as in to exploit
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 play (upon)
Verb
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Players have to create teams that exploit a boss’ weakness in order to defeat them, and that means building up characters that have the right elemental affinities.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
16 Mar. 2026 -
This is certain to be an area TCU will try to exploit.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Research shows that abusers will threaten, harm or kill a beloved companion animal to manipulate and control the people who love them.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 Mar. 2026
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To avoid detection by streaming platforms, Smith spread his automated, manipulated streams across thousands of different songs, knowing that concentrating streams on a single track would be flagged, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
20 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Play (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/play%20%28upon%29. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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