as in exploits
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 plays (upon)
Verb
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There’s an inherent fascination to this kind of exhibitionist lifestyle that the film cannily exploits in its own sleek, advertising-like presentation.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
29 Sep. 2025 -
On Tuesday, Lipa took to her Instagram to directly shut down the Mail’s reporting and tut-tut the article’s style and voice while dismissing it as mere clickbait that exploits a tragedy.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Complicating matters is the insidious Host character (voiced by Len Cunningham’s father, Liam Cunningham), who manipulates the players’ reality.—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
2 Oct. 2025
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All of this is possible because hackers use a tactic called SEO poisoning, which manipulates Google's search results so their fake websites appear near the top.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
29 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Plays (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plays%20%28upon%29. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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