Thesaurus results for PLAYED (UPON)

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

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for played (upon)

Verb

In their complaint, the US alleged that Alfozan used an OpenAI productivity agent to research which conference rooms might be best exploited for his spying.

— Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026
In one case, Claude exploited a software flaw on a university server to run commands after a scientific analysis tool stopped working.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of exploited

Verb

The Delhi agitation centers on allegations that voter lists were manipulated during the Special Intensive Revision exercise.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
The researchers then manipulated the scenario by changing what happened after the focal bee returned to the hive and gave directions to the feeder.

— Marta Hill, Scientific American, 15 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)

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Played (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/played%20%28upon%29. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of played (upon)

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

jilt

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes