manipulation

American  

[muh-nip-yuh-ley-shuhn] / məˌnɪp jəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

manipulations plural

1. the act of manipulating.

2. the state or fact of being manipulated.

3. skillful or artful management.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• manipulations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of manipulation

First recorded in 1720–30; from French, equivalent to manipule “handful” ( see maniple) + -ation -ation

Explanation

Manipulation is the skillful handling, controlling or using of something or someone. Whether it's the sculpture you made in art class or how you convinced your friend to do your homework — both are considered manipulation. From the Latin word for "handful," manipulation certainly has much to do with using your hands to move or shape something, like a good DJ manipulating two totally different tunes into the perfect mashup. But this word also has some negative connotations — a manipulative person knows how to twist words, play on emotions and otherwise manage a situation in a sneaky fashion to get what he wants.

Example Sentences

"I have a child that will need to know the truth and I don't know how I begin to explain that. How will my child ever understand the levels of manipulation?"

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026

Norway, by contrast, after the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, set up a sovereign-wealth fund through a trust structure independent of central government and thus immunized against political manipulation.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 6, 2026

In a new study, the insects successfully completed a completely unfamiliar object manipulation task despite never being taught how to solve it.

From Science Daily • Jul. 3, 2026

Its activities are increasingly drawing scrutiny, too, including accusations of market manipulation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 20, 2026

While attempting to isolate enough of the compounds in the cockroaches, an international consortium of scientists develops revolutionary technologies to increase the size of the cockroaches through genetic manipulation.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson