as in to exploit
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 play (upon)
Verb
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Whether climate denial, corporate lobbying or inequitable wealth distribution, our systems often reward those who can exploit the system without regard for their impact on long-term system health.—
Maureen Metcalf,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025 -
Only in these areas will humanitarian aid be provided—by an American company under direct Israeli security arrangements—to avoid previous distribution arrangements that were exploited by Hamas.—
Assaf Orion,
Foreign Affairs,
3 June 2025
Verb
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Not possessed of any special abilities, Achebe instead manipulates his ways into political power in Wakanda.—
Michileen Martin,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 June 2025
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Deepfakes are manipulated images, audio recordings, or videos of real people that have been altered with artificial intelligence to misrepresent someone as saying or doing something that the person did not actually say or do.—
Alain Sherter,
CBS News,
6 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Play (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/play%20%28upon%29. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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