as in deceptive
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Recent Examples of manipulative
This person seems very manipulative, perhaps dangerously so.
—
R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2025
All at once, Julia’s life of ease, boredom and comfort turns into one of suspicion and manipulative games.
—Mary Marge Locker, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2025
From there sprung Brian, played by Lou Taylor Pucci, an alien who looks like a new-age guru in a tracksuit, and, depending on the scene, can be naive, manipulative, aloof, romantic, cruel and even self-pitying.
—William Earl, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
Relationship challenges: People-pleasers are often targets for manipulative individuals in personal and professional settings, such as narcissists, psychopaths and sociopaths, who will prey on the kindness and need to please from the people-pleaser.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manipulative
R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2025
All at once, Julia’s life of ease, boredom and comfort turns into one of suspicion and manipulative games.
—Mary Marge Locker, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2025
From there sprung Brian, played by Lou Taylor Pucci, an alien who looks like a new-age guru in a tracksuit, and, depending on the scene, can be naive, manipulative, aloof, romantic, cruel and even self-pitying.
—William Earl, Variety, 28 Jan. 2025
Relationship challenges: People-pleasers are often targets for manipulative individuals in personal and professional settings, such as narcissists, psychopaths and sociopaths, who will prey on the kindness and need to please from the people-pleaser.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manipulative
Recent Examples of Synonyms for manipulative
Adjective
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False Hope And Fake Assurances Ransomware operators also exploit victims with false assurances, creating a deceptive sense of hope that there is a way to resolve the situation.—
Stu Sjouwerman,
Forbes,
10 Mar. 2025
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That’s the film’s greatest surprise, its secret deceptive pitch.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Although many online gambling venues have terms of service that bar underage use, some teens use deceitful methods to sidestep state law.—
Adam Hudacek,
Baltimore Sun,
10 Mar. 2025
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This discrepancy doesn’t necessarily mean that companies are being deceitful.—
Matt Fuchs,
TIME,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Conclave depicts the Catholic church at an inflection point, with warring political factions proving themselves vain, self-serving, and hypocritical in their pursuit of power.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
27 Feb. 2025
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As resident jester at the maverick journalism outlet The Free Press, Nellie Bowles scours the news for the absurd and hypocritical, and then skewers the best of the worst in her column, TGIF.—
Roy Rivenburg,
The Christian Science Monitor,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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This flashback kickoff, which looks to tell the devious origin story of the megachurch-leading Gemstone clan, went from long shot to lock quickly.—
Marco della Cava,
USA TODAY,
10 Mar. 2025
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This devious methodology tricked Google’s Play Store defenses by using a vanilla version of the app as an initial trojan horse before updating with the fraudulent ad code, an update not a new app.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes,
5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Michael Douglas — Wall Street (1987) Gordon Gekko is a cunning and unscrupulous corporate predator who crystallized the Reagan-era ethos into three words.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
2 Mar. 2025
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Gilded by privilege and cunning, Glinda (Ariana Grande) is a popular young woman who desires to wield magic.—
Destiny Jackson,
Deadline,
2 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The people here prefer to be crooked while pretending to be holy.—
Colm Tóibín,
The New Yorker,
2 Mar. 2025
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My tween self wrote a letter to myself stating that my ideal person would have a crooked smile, a sense of humor, honest eyes and a creative palate.—
Lisa Stardust,
People.com,
12 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Amidst, all the in court and outside court filings, statements and postures around this multi-lawsuit matter the NYT has long said its journalists did their job and there was nothing underhanded going on.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
4 Mar. 2025
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Brittany doubtless committed homicide, but the underhanded techniques that helped put her on death row could also be used against innocent people.—
Lawrence Wright,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The doors that slam, as farcical doors are built to do, open to work spaces, where a good deal of time is spent scheming and counter-scheming.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2025
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Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy get revenge on two scheming executives.—
AJ Willingham,
CNN,
23 Dec. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Manipulative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/manipulative. Accessed 18 Mar. 2025.
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