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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Thad may even see potential in exploiting Mae's relationship with Chris.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
23 May 2026 -
In his 2020 presidential bid, Andrew Yang came up with the idea of Big Tech companies paying data dividends for surveilling and exploiting us for their own profit.—
Alexander Heffner,
Mercury News,
20 May 2026
Verb
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The malevolent Sidious put Maul through the wringer, torturing and manipulating him on his path to becoming a fearsome Sith Lord.—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
19 May 2026
-
Kinematic intelligence began with EPFL researchers motion-capturing humans setting, shoving, tossing, and otherwise manipulating objects.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
18 May 2026
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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 28 May. 2026.
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