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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In 2023, 43% of all cyber attacks targeted small businesses, highlighting how attackers are actively exploiting the security gaps that come with limited budgets and smaller IT teams.—
Ro'ee Margalit,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025 -
Pep Guardiola’s City have been creating and exploiting pockets of space for many seasons now, and their neighbours were just the latest victims.—
Ahmed Walid,
New York Times,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Former Formula One driver David Coulthard has accused the McLaren Racing F1 team of manipulating the Italian Grand Prix race results by issuing team orders during the race.—
Saajan Jogia,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Sep. 2025
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The hacker’s malware focuses on stealing cryptocurrency by hijacking and manipulating the user's browser.—
Michael Kan,
PC Magazine,
8 Sep. 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 17 Sep. 2025.
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