manipulate
Formsmanipulates, manipulating, manipulated
- 1To influence or control someone secretly for one's own advantage, especially in a way the person does not realize.
Like a chess player quietly steering an unwitting opponent's moves to suit a hidden plan.
He manipulated his coworkers into covering his share of the project.
Con artists manipulate lonely people by pretending to care about them.
Similarexploit, control, influence, maneuver, use
Note
Pointed at a person, the word turns disapproving. It implies that the manipulator gains and that the target does not see it happening. It often takes into or a purpose clause, as in manipulate someone into covering for you or manipulate people to get her way. Adverbs of skill such as cleverly are common with it. The blunter, plainer equivalent is simply to use someone.
- 2To influence, manage, direct, or tamper with something, often to control its outcome.
The traders manipulated stock prices to mislead smaller investors.
Hackers can manipulate data stored on poorly secured servers.
Similarrig, falsify, doctor, alter, fix
Note
Here the object is a thing, and the tone depends on what that thing is. With data or images, especially in software, the word is neutral and means to edit, transform or process. With prices or outcomes it implies tampering. When the object becomes a person, the word shifts to the deceptive, self-serving meaning, which is almost always disapproving.
- 3To handle something with the hands so as to move, arrange, or operate it.
The watchmaker manipulated the delicate gears with a fine pair of tweezers.
You can manipulate the soft wax into almost any shape.
Similarhandle, maneuver, operate, work, mold
Note
A verb made backward: English had the noun manipulation first, and manipulate was clipped out of it. In this hands-on use it always takes an object, such as gears, a lever or soft wax, and suggests careful, skilled handling. Without an object, the same idea survives only in a dated laboratory usage.
- 4To handle and move a body part by hand, either to examine it or for treatment.
The chiropractor manipulated the patient's spine to relieve the tension.
Physical therapists manipulate stiff joints to restore a normal range of movement.
Note
Clinical language uses the word with no hint of deceit. Chiropractors and physical therapists manipulate a spine, a joint or a limb, whether to examine it or to treat it. Keep the body part as the object: "the therapist manipulated my knee" is clinical, while "the therapist manipulated me" slides toward the meaning of deceiving someone.
Less common meaning
- 5To do manual work, especially in carrying out scientific experiments.
A good experimenter must manipulate deftly to avoid spoiling a delicate reaction.
The assistant manipulated patiently at the bench all afternoon.
Note
A laboratory usage, now dated, and unusual because it takes no object: the experimenter simply manipulates, deftly or patiently, much as one might say works. Modern English prefers the hands-on meaning with an object, so a present-day writer would say someone manipulates the apparatus rather than that they just manipulate.
Practice
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Origin
A back-formation from "manipulation."