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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The goalie coaches for NHL teams have a two-fold job, working with their own goalies to close up any weak points in their game, and scouting the other team’s goalies to look for areas their shooters might be able to exploit.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
4 May 2026 -
The Thunder are just that good – picking apart opponents to exploit weaknesses while shooting at a highly efficient clip from the field.—
Benjamin Royer,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Meanwhile, college and professional athletes have also been caught trying to manipulate prediction markets as online sports betting has exploded.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
2 May 2026
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For decades, people have used tools such as Photoshop to manipulate digital imagery.—
Lila Shroff,
The Atlantic,
2 May 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 7 May. 2026.
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