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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Cousin, who is CEO of FSF Ventures, a nonprofit focused on sustainable food business models, believes investments like AI will help spur productivity in land already used for cultivation.—
Nino Paoli,
Fortune,
28 Oct. 2025 -
One post on the platform included a screenshot of a season 4 scene where Will uses a conversation about Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to reveal his true feelings for Mike.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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As European nations—including France—maintained colonial rule, exploiting millions of people of color across the globe, Nardal wielded her writings as a weapon to challenge the global color line.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Oct. 2025
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There are reservations, though, about the intertwining of Christianity and conservative politics, and opportunistic politicians exploiting a movement to suit their agenda.—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Duffy has said that air traffic controllers who abuse their sick time during the shutdown could be fired.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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He is accused of luring a young girl into his van parked in the church’s parking lot or to the church’s basement to abuse the girl over and over during a seven-year period, according to the release.—
Ryanne Mena,
Oc Register,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Advertisement Leading labs are already increasingly leveraging AI systems to accelerate their own research and development (R&D) pipelines, by designing new algorithms, proposing entirely new architectures or optimizing code.—
Yoshua Bengio,
Time,
22 Oct. 2025
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To this end, the firm leveraged its own talents and art departments for the campaigns and aims to further boost the appeal of the products by encouraging their use in models’ off-duty moments.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Because Atlas reads web pages, malicious websites can manipulate it by hiding instructions in their code – a technique called prompt injection.—
The AI Insider,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
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Young’s ability to manipulate the pocket with his quickness and improvisational skills has helped keep the Panthers’ sack count low.—
Mike Kaye,
Charlotte Observer,
27 Oct. 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 30 Oct. 2025.
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