as in exploited
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 played (upon)
Verb
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Vulnerabilities in those systems have been exploited in high-profile attacks across DeFi.—
Tony Bradley,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025 -
Jeffrey Breinholt, an architect of the material support statutes who spent three decades as a federal terrorism prosecutor, defends the laws as crucial to closing loopholes that were exploited by foreign militant groups and their domestic sympathizers.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The sound of the tuning forks was then digitally manipulated to fit the pitch of the music and timed to match any moves the characters make.—
Joan MacDonald,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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Russia's Influence Operations in 2016, Russia conducted extensive campaigns during the presidential election, employing fake personas, troll farms, and manipulated content to inflame racial, ideological, and cultural divisions.—
Amir Daftari,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Played (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/played%20%28upon%29. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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