manipulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to manage or influence skillfully, especially in an unfair manner.
to manipulate people's feelings.
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to handle, manage, or use, especially with skill, in some process of treatment or performance.
to manipulate a large tractor.
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to adapt or change (accounts, figures, etc.) to suit one's purpose or advantage.
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Medicine/Medical. to examine or treat by skillful use of the hands, as in palpation, reduction of dislocations, or changing the position of a fetus.
verb
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(tr) to handle or use, esp with some skill, in a process or action
to manipulate a pair of scissors
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to negotiate, control, or influence (something or someone) cleverly, skilfully, or deviously
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to falsify (a bill, accounts, etc) for one's own advantage
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(in physiotherapy) to examine or treat manually, as in loosening a joint
Other Word Forms
- manipulability noun
- manipulatable adjective
- manipulation noun
- manipulative adjective
- manipulatively adverb
- manipulator noun
- manipulatory adjective
- nonmanipulative adjective
- nonmanipulatory adjective
- outmanipulate verb (used with object)
- unmanipulatable adjective
- unmanipulated adjective
- unmanipulative adjective
- unmanipulatory adjective
Etymology
Origin of manipulate
First recorded in 1820–30; back formation from manipulation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The suspect is believed to have manipulated the site's payment system, altering the validation process of an electronic payment platform so that bookings appeared fully paid.
From Barron's
He can’t manipulate his family enough; he’s trying, he brings out all the tools — be funny, be nice, everything — but he doesn’t reach them, and it’s tragic.
From Los Angeles Times
“Absolutely it’s not broke. You manipulate. You have the figures you create.”
From Los Angeles Times
Warner and Vangipuram “manipulated Mobileum’s financial metrics to sell the company at a higher price and, as a result, line their own pockets,” U.S.
Instead of manipulating government for their own narrow interests, the rich can add a distinctively independent-minded, public-spirited and efficacious set of voices to the national debate.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
