manipulative
Americanadjective
-
influencing or attempting to influence the behavior or emotions of others for one’s own purposes.
a manipulative boss.
-
of or relating to manipulation of objects or parts of the body; serving to manipulate.
spinal manipulative therapy.
noun
-
manipulatives
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of manipulative
First recorded in 1815–20; manipulat(e) ( def. ) + -ive ( def. )
Explanation
A manipulative person uses passive, sneaky strategies to get what they want, such as saying "Aren't you lucky to have all that chocolate!" when what they really want is for you to offer them one. Manipulative comes from the Latin word manus for "hand," and originally the English words that sprang from it like manipulate and manipulation referred to skill in physically handling objects by hand. The psychological sense we now associate with manipulative came much later on, but as anyone who has been successfully manipulated well knows, it often feels like you've been brilliantly manhandled.
Vocabulary lists containing manipulative
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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:
Once the curbs are lifted, he argues children aged 15 and over would still be "exposed to predatory, addictive, manipulative and extractive systems which are recognised as harmful".
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
"It's often much more manipulative behaviour and family court judges, even within the legal framework, are effectively being told that they should consider that as irrelevant to the financial decisions that they make."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
“He was a very manipulative man,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Ann Blyth, who was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the wicked, manipulative daughter in the 1945 noir melodrama “Mildred Pierce,” has died at age 98.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026
He gives amazing speeches, writes fantastic op-eds and now newspaper features, spearheads community warmth drives...and he dates a manipulative ditz.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
“Kids should be outside, they should be playing, they should be using manipulatives and tactiles.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
I could suggest ways of bringing manipulatives to traditional paper and pencil mathematics.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2020
This philosophy--championed most famously by the Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget--explains the near ubiquity of counting rods and beads, known in academic circles as manipulatives, in most grade-school classrooms.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
