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:
By combining magnetic stability with the ability to manipulate spin-based information, these materials could help overcome challenges that have held back conventional spintronic devices.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
Kalshi said its markets offer unique data distinct from polling, that probabilities do not guarantee outcomes and that efforts to manipulate odds are canceled out by other buyers.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Retail trade groups, however, reject the claim that digital tags are designed to manipulate prices to rip off consumers.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Rather than educate users how to use their privacy settings, the judge wrote, Zuckerberg chose to “capitalize on that lack of understanding in order to manipulate users into sharing more of their personal information publicly.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The power it might have to manipulate the crowd?
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Amazing the way he's gifted with the ball, the way he manipulates the ball, and also the way he's able to think for himself.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 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
As Roderigo, whom Iago manipulates like a bored puppeteer idly pulling the strings, Daniel Velez is idiotically gullible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
The ease with which he manipulates words is his greatest talent.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
He described Brand as someone who was "chaotic, dismissive and manipulated the people around him".
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Onstage we aren’t so much manipulated as kept at a cool distance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
To study the consequences of these abnormalities, Cimini's team manipulated diploid cancer cells so they would duplicate their chromosomes without completing cell division.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
Stipe: I’m a toughie — I’m not easily manipulated or pushed around.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Paul Blofis came over, but that was okay because Chiron had manipulated the Mist to convince everyone at Goode High School that I had nothing to do with the band room explosion.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
Researchers could also develop materials capable of controlling magnetic behavior, manipulating light, or influencing chemical reactions with greater precision.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
It’s almost as if the flesh-colored prophet puppets were actors, and Henderson directed them, Anderson said, manipulating their silicon bodies into position over and over again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
With one eye on her baby in a pushchair, Minae Kamata operates an arcade machine in a Tokyo suburb, manipulating a claw to grab not a stuffed toy but a pack of toilet paper.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
The former Deutsche Bank trader was accused of manipulating the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, Libor’s continental cousin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
“I am very good at manipulating fabric, but it seems so unnecessary given what Madame Padva can do.”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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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.
