as in exploited
to control or take advantage of by artful, unfair, or insidious means
played upon the customer's vanity to convince her to buy the expensive makeup kit
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for played (upon)
Verb
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In March, Google addressed CVE-2025-2783, a sandbox escape bug exploited in espionage attacks against Russian organizations.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
2 Oct. 2025 -
Roseman’s answer at the time sidestepped a question about a post-Darius Slay drop-off at CB2 that has since been exploited at times this season, but Mitchell and DeJean’s play has also justified Roseman’s confidence in them.—
Brooks Kubena,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The codes of Versace are very strong and Vitale manipulated the familiar in a playful way.—
Joelle Diderich,
Footwear News,
8 Oct. 2025
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But those sensors can be manipulated.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Played (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/played%20%28upon%29. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.
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