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playing (upon)

verb

present participle of play (upon)
as in exploiting
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 playing (upon)
  1. exploiting
  2. manipulating
Verb
  • During a hearing over that issue last month, prosecutors revealed jailhouse recordings in which Lavie bragged about exploiting Cloobeck.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
  • As attacks become more automated, adaptive and capable of exploiting multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously, security teams can no longer rely on detecting and responding to individual indicators after an attack is already underway.
    — Chris Dimitriadis, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of exploiting
Verb
  • Last Wednesday, Meta reached a settlement with the attorneys general of forty-seven states, who had sued it for illegally manipulating the attention of children.
    — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • The experiment, therefore, suggests that empty space itself could become a new tool for manipulating quantum matter, much like other efforts to push the limits of superconducting materials.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of manipulating
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

playing up
playing (upon)
playing (with)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Playing (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playing%20%28upon%29. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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