MANIPULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does manipulate mean? 

• MANIPULATE (verb)
  The verb MANIPULATE has 6 senses:

1. influence or control shrewdly or deviously

2. hold something in one's hands and move it

3. tamper, with the purpose of deception

4. manipulate in a fraudulent manner

5. maintain influence over (others or oneself) skillfully, usually to one's advantage

6. treat manually, as with massage, for therapeutic purposed

  Familiarity information: MANIPULATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MANIPULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they manipulate    ... he / she / it manipulates   
Past simple: manipulated   
Past participle: manipulated   
-ing form: manipulating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Influence or control shrewdly or deviously

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

manipulate; pull strings; pull wires

Context example:

He manipulated public opinion in his favor

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

manipulation (exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage)

manipulative (skillful in influencing or controlling others to your own advantage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hold something in one's hands and move it

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

handle; palm (touch, lift, or hold with the hands)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "manipulate"):

lay hands on (manage with the hands)

mouse (manipulate the mouse of a computer)

fiddle with; twiddle (manipulate, as in a nervous or unconscious manner)

handle; manage; wield (handle effectively)

control; operate (handle and cause to function)

knead; massage; rub down (manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes)

knead; work (make uniform)

mix; ruffle; shuffle (mix so as to make a random order or arrangement)

fiddle; monkey; tamper (play around with or alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly)

diddle; fiddle; play; toy (manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

manipulation (the action of touching with the hands (or the skillful use of the hands) or by the use of mechanical means)

manipulator (a person who handles things manually)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tamper, with the purpose of deception

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

cook; fake; falsify; fudge; manipulate; misrepresent; wangle

Context example:

falsify the data

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel (engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "manipulate"):

juggle (manipulate by or as if by moving around components)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Manipulate in a fraudulent manner

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

manipulate; rig

Context example:

rig prices

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

price (determine the price of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Maintain influence over (others or oneself) skillfully, usually to one's advantage

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

control; keep in line; manipulate

Context example:

she keeps in line

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

interact (act together or towards others or with others)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "manipulate"):

tease (to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them)

handle (show and train)

ingratiate (gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

manipulation (exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage)

manipulative (skillful in influencing or controlling others to your own advantage)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Treat manually, as with massage, for therapeutic purposed

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "manipulate" is one way to...):

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Did he manipulate his foot?

Derivation:

manipulation (the action of touching with the hands (or the skillful use of the hands) or by the use of mechanical means)

 Context examples 

The device software was found to contain errors in specifying or manipulating data items.

(Incorrect Device Data Definition Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Changes in microbe composition over a day-night cycle show that coral reefs manipulate the chemistry of the surrounding seawater.

(Bacteria living near coral reefs change in synchrony across distances, National Science Foundation)

This finding could encourage future studies into how FLP-7 levels could be regulated without causing the side effects often experienced when manipulating overall serotonin levels.

(Scientists Find Brain Hormone That Triggers Fat Burning, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Manipulating the timing of Stat3 signals affects this balance.

(Controlling Muscle Repair, NIH)

Fowlpox virus is an attractive vector because its genome is easy to manipulate and it does not multiply in human tissues.

(Fowlpox Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

In short, we should manipulate this kind of tickets as little as possible.

(Purchase receipts with easily erasable ink contain cancer- and infertility inducing substances, University of Granada)

In object-oriented programming, an object is a self-contained entity that consists of both data and procedures to manipulate the data.

(Computer Programming Object, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of therapy in which the hands are used to manipulate the spine or other parts of the body.

(Chiropractic therapy, NCI Dictionary)

Pathways and other molecular and cellular processes which can be manipulated in bacteria, the results of which can be extrapolated to human systems.

(Bacterial Model, NCI Thesaurus)

An allogeneic whole cell vaccine, derived from irradiated allogenic tumor cells manipulated to express human B7.1 (CD80 antigen) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A1, with potential antitumor activity.

(Allogeneic B7.1/HLA-A1 Transfected Tumor Cell Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)