as in to use
to take unfair advantage of
the candidate played on the voters' prejudices
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for play (on or upon)
Verb
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Check this out 🎨 Past and present: Derrick Adams uses his paintings to spotlight important moments in Black history as well as to bookmark his own personal interests and fixations.—
Daniel Wine,
CNN,
24 Feb. 2025 -
The dog owner, who uses the social-media tag @_nalacockapoo, decided to share how the doting pup follows her to the shower, in a video that has garnered more than 517,300 views and over 28,900 likes on TikTok.—
Mark Joseph,
Newsweek,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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No, the danger is what those charlatans exploit, namely our vulnerability to the narrative of natural healing, the irresistible allure of conquering cancer with a simple, intuitive approach that lies entirely within our power, no chemo or surgery required.—
Alan Levinovitz,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
28 Feb. 2025
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Large entities exploited this dynamic, leveraging economies of scale and engaging in aggressive mergers.—
Richard Menger MD MPA,
Forbes,
28 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Her defense attorney, Jose Baez, dropped the bombshell accusation that Casey had been abused by her father, implying that this explained her string of lies and her willingness to protect him.—
Aja Romano,
Vox,
4 Mar. 2025
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Other interview subjects said Prince was abused himself as a child and could be controlling or emotionally manipulative.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
4 Mar. 2025
Verb
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The new Turkish streamer will leverage BluTV’s local standing and combine it with a richer content lineup combining global hits from HBO and Max Originals, alongside BluTV’s Turkish originals.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
4 Mar. 2025
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Hearst last year brought Siggi Hilmarsson, entrepreneur and founder of Siggi’s Yogurt, onto its board of directors, and plans to leverage his expertise in logistics for the e-commerce revamp, which is expected to take 18 months.—
Joelle Diderich,
WWD,
4 Mar. 2025
Verb
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But they had been manipulated by homeowners and businesses, and used to block all kinds of new construction.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
The New Yorker,
3 Mar. 2025
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Editing concerns truly manipulating an image, making changes to particular areas, and adding content like text, shapes, or other images on top of the original.—
PCMAG,
PCMAG,
2 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Play (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/play%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
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