manipulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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manipulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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manipulated,
past participle, past
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manipulating
present participle
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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
Derived Forms
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manipulabilitynoun
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manipulationnoun
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manipulatornoun
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outmanipulateverb (used with object)
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manipulatableadjective
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manipulativeadjective
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manipulatoryadjective
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nonmanipulativeadjective
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nonmanipulatoryadjective
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unmanipulatableadjective
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unmanipulatedadjective
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unmanipulativeadjective
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unmanipulatoryadjective
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manipulativelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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manipulatesimple
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manipulatessimple
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have manipulatedperfect
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has manipulatedperfect
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am manipulatingprogressive
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are manipulatingprogressive
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is manipulatingprogressive
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have been manipulatingperfect progressive
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has been manipulatingperfect progressive
Past
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manipulatedsimple
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had manipulatedperfect
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was manipulatingprogressive
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were manipulatingprogressive
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had been manipulatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of manipulate
First recorded in 1820–30; back formation from manipulation
Explanation
To manipulate something means to handle it skillfully, like the way a sculptor manipulates clay or a really good politician works a crowd. The verb manipulate evolved from manipulation, which back in the 1700s referred to a method of digging ore. So manipulating something originally only meant moving or arranging it by hand or mechanically. It wasn't until 1864 that people started using the word manipulate to describe someone exerting mental or emotional influence on others.
Vocabulary lists containing manipulate
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1950)
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The Westing Game
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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.
See Examples For:
Thus, when his mother started reading child psychology books to better understand a young Del Toro, he read them as well, so that he could try to manipulate her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
"If she could build and manipulate the trust of adults across an entire community so effectively, think about how little power babies and young children had behind those closed doors."
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
"Who are we allowing to feed into us and manipulate what media we consume, which bubbles we're in?" she continued.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
In an earlier study, the researchers showed that they could directly manipulate vacuum fluctuations by using a magnetic field to reversibly switch the Casimir force between attraction and repulsion.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
“Zeus didn’t send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He’s trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad.”
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
Have you ever noticed how the soundtrack manipulates your perception?
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
He manipulates the physical form of the ingredient to showcase different temperatures and textures: souffle, cream, biscuit, foam, and air.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
She’s showing us exactly how the majority manipulates the text until it gets where it wants to go.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
He manipulates mechanical arms remotely, using hand and arm sensors to make them pick up a pot of coffee, pour it into a mug and put the pot back in the coffee maker.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Someone who manipulates you and the way you feel doesn’t love you.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
In its ruling, the panel said Burwood had engaged in a "sustained, calculated course of conduct" and had manipulated the resident for personal gain.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Can Holmes really be who she is, or is she being manipulated?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Gibney says he doesn’t believe Musk manipulated votes, but the sequence leaves open what, if anything, lay behind his apparent early certainty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
For example, one Georgia ad included the disclaimer, “This video has been manipulated or generated with artificial intelligence,” while an Oklahoma ad said, “Political satire. AI-generated images do not depict actual events.”
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2026
Archie always marveled at things like this, things he had arranged and manipulated.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
That is where I try to land at the end: We’re not going to solve this problem by manipulating the chatbots.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
Cloud seeding involves manipulating existing clouds, such as by dropping salt crystals or silver iodide into them, to help produce more rain.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Fielder finds himself drawn from behind the camera into the story, struggling to determine whether Holmes and Evans are being candid with him or manipulating him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
These low-energy light particles are especially useful for manipulating quantum information and are already central to leading superconducting-qubit technology.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
“And, yes, manipulating those proteins is the key to my research.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
