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)
Verb
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Brunson’s defense and the lack of rim protection from Towns remain weaknesses, but nobody has come close to exploiting them so far.—
Tony Jones,
New York Times,
18 May 2026 -
Governors, regulators and consumer advocates are challenging traditional profit guarantees and rate hikes, arguing monopoly utilities are exploiting a ‘broken’ 20th century model while households struggle with affordability.—
Marc Levy,
Los Angeles Times,
17 May 2026
Verb
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The malevolent Sidious put Maul through the wringer, torturing and manipulating him on his path to becoming a fearsome Sith Lord.—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
19 May 2026
-
Kinematic intelligence began with EPFL researchers motion-capturing humans setting, shoving, tossing, and otherwise manipulating objects.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
18 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Playing (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playing%20%28upon%29. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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