played (upon)

verb

past tense of play (upon)
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)
  1. exploited
  2. manipulated
Verb
  • OpenAI reported that the agents used unauthorized communication channels, exploited vulnerabilities and engaged in reward hacking.
    — Babajide Ojuola, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Rogers’ indiscretion was later exploited by online blackmail scammers, ultimately leading to his downfall.
    — Eamon Javers, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of exploited
Verb
  • Roughly half of the 10 patients in the study had some vision restoration after researchers injected them with a gene to make their retina produce a light-sensing protein so that it could be manipulated.
    — O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The senses of anyone entering these tombs were heavily manipulated.
    — Jacqueline Ortoleva, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of manipulated
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

played up
played (upon)
played (with)
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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 10 Oct. 2026.

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