How to Use manipulative in a Sentence

manipulative

adjective
Definition of manipulativenext
Synonyms for manipulativenext
  • At any point, the show could have killed Joyce, Buffy’s mother, in a manipulative fashion tied to a Big Bad.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Apr. 2023
  • Gay had been traumatized by a manipulative co-star and didn’t want to live through that again.
    — Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2024
  • The latter can be a sign that the friendship is manipulative and unhealthy.
    — Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Anchorage Daily News, 3 June 2023
  • Now this seems a mistake, at least a tad too manipulative.
    — WSJ, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Ken, of course, thinks the king should be him, but as the siblings reveal to one another, they’ve all been promised the keys to the kingdom by their manipulative father.
    — Anne Branigin, Washington Post, 29 May 2023
  • In a letter to Brown, Edens described him as a sociopath and manipulative child rapist.
    — oregonlive, 1 Nov. 2022
  • As things go from bad to deadly, the question is, is Cherry a manipulative social climber?
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 2 May 2024
  • And Kerry grew tired of manipulative and erratic behavior, and lies that fishtailed from the banal to the bizarre.
    — Sean Williams, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Under the system, which assigns traits to each animal, some years are less popular, like that of the tiger (too fierce), the goat (too timid) or the snake (seen as manipulative and cunning).
    — Lyric Li, Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2024
  • Brittany, a hypnotherapist who now lives in Austin, Texas, but grew up in Atlanta, was seen by many of the other game players as manipulative and a bit messy in her game play.
    — Rodney Ho, ajc, 23 Sep. 2022
  • In part due to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure from royal life, there is a newfound sense of the royals as conniving and manipulative, and the press plays into this.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
  • What strikes some as manipulative will crack open others, as the film offers a kind of connection that’s all too rare, and maybe even impossible.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2023
  • As for his latest role as manipulative and entitled social climber Adam Pratt in season 4 of You.
    — Brianne Tracy, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2023
  • As for the Uche-Lydia twist, the whole thing felt incredibly manipulative.
    — Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Elmer cuts Boris loose, only to learn the dragon was load-bearing — chained by a manipulative gorilla (Ian McShane) to keep the island from sinking.
    — Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Musk's lawyers argued that the tweet in question was impromptu and not intended to be manipulative.
    — Christopher Hutton, Washington Examiner, 3 Feb. 2023
  • From accusing you of not getting work done to moving the goalpost, this form of manipulative behavior can also be found in the workplace.
    — Victoria Uwumarogie, Essence, 16 Apr. 2024
  • The targets of their anti-fandom are manipulative and ambitious, as a rule, but also stupid.
    — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 17 May 2022
  • In court on Tuesday, friends and relatives described Roberts as a manipulative man who was prone to bouts of extreme violence.
    — Jakob Rodgers, The Mercury News, 2 July 2024
  • But thinking back over their emotional sit-down in Italy, Lisa questioned if Denise was being manipulative all along.
    — Robyn Merrett, PEOPLE.com, 2 Sep. 2020
  • That is part of the film’s point, revealing the manipulative, almost sadomasochistic nature of its own making.
    — Peter Keough, BostonGlobe.com, 23 June 2022
  • But the Diana of Season 5 was also manipulative, and addicted to the attention and the drama that once had been so undesirable to her.
    — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2023
  • But as silly as his locks are, Alexander delivers an outright chilling performance as a manipulative killer who wants to make the BAU jump through his hoops.
    — EW.com, 6 June 2024
  • At first, the sources say, Majors was romantic with the woman before becoming more manipulative and volatile.
    — Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 29 June 2023
  • That interaction between the case officer and the agent isn't manipulative at all.
    — CBS News, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Needless to say, Sergio will run into obstacles, and his story arc is predictable and a bit manipulative.
    — Pat Padua, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Sherry is just a terrible, manipulative person to the core.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 16 May 2022
  • With a focus on quitting her job, the assignments unravel her long-dormant passions while drawing out the truths about her manipulative and abusive partner along the way.
    — Holly Jones, Variety, 14 Nov. 2022
  • Tear-jerking in the most manipulative ways, the film is helped somewhat by the sincerity of the performances — specifically that of McCarthy, who somehow makes some of this maudlin nonsense work.
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 May 2024
  • All of us suffer because politicians have turned income tax into a manipulative maze.
    — John Stossel, Orange County Register, 28 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'manipulative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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