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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The New York Times Magazine published a critique yesterday of two documentaries that have recently been released about the use of child influencers, raising the potential that the projects may potentially be re-exploiting them.—
Katie Kilkenny,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Apr. 2025 -
Where United can hurt Lyon is by exploiting their defensive instability.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Just as manipulating actuality is the soul of cinema, playing with subjectivity is the soul of AI as an artistic medium.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
8 Apr. 2025
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Biohacking sales isn’t about manipulating people.—
Scott Hutcheson,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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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. 2025.
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