as in imposing (on or upon)
to take unfair advantage of
the candidate played on the voters' prejudices
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for playing (on or upon)
Verb
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Sarah Moore, executive director of the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition, questioned the legality of using American Rescue Plan Act funds for the project.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
3 Nov. 2025 -
Separately, Graffiedi is exploring immersion cooling for data centers using dielectric fluids — non-conductive liquids that remove heat through boiling.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Among the things Rodrik recommends are learning the lessons of China’s remarkable industrial rise, focussing on services rather than manufacturing, and further exploiting the dramatic fall in the cost of green energy.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
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The pod, known as Moctezuma’s pod, may be exploiting warming waters that have shifted shark nursery areas, making younger and less experienced sharks easier targets.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The administration has been accused of trying to start a new war and abusing military power by foreign and domestic leaders.—
Hollie Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
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In a complaint filed in 2023, Gannett and the other plaintiffs accused Google of violating federal antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position to control and profit from the technology used by publishers to buy and sell ads across the internet.—
USA TODAY,
USA TODAY,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The Art of You is the company’s strategic vision focusing on personalized experiences, leveraging customer data, new technology, and building stronger partnerships with brands.—
David Moin,
Footwear News,
31 Oct. 2025
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Beyond clusters and bookmarks, Vision AI lets designers build custom signals by leveraging their own data.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The real reason is to wreak as much havoc as humanly possible, or at least that’s what we’re given to believe from the way the hostess swans about while deftly manipulating dozens of puppet strings simultaneously.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
29 Oct. 2025
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Since 2024, a number of lawsuits have been filed by parents against companies offering AI chatbots, alleging that extensive use of the technology led to a range of harms to kids, including manipulating and isolating them and leading to death by suicide.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
29 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Playing (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playing%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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