playing (upon)

verb

present participle of play (upon)
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)
  1. exploiting
  2. manipulating
Verb
  • As the unit enters its second year, its priorities remain identifying victims and building cases against those exploiting them.
    — Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Still, hackers can infiltrate companies by duping an employee into installing malware on their computer or exploiting unknown vulnerabilities in their software or network.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of exploiting
Verb
  • Present-day police work reflects our current economic order by placing a high value on manipulating such immaterialities.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • According to Treasury, Galeano had been detained in the United States in 2017 on suspicion of manipulating ATMs and was found with drugs and backpacks containing a large amount of cash.
    — Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of manipulating
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

playing up
playing (upon)
playing (with)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Playing (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playing%20%28upon%29. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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