manipulation

UK/məˌnɪp.juˈleɪ.ʃən/US/məˌnɪp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,254 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: manipulations

Manipulation is skilful handling, or the sly controlling of people. Emotional manipulation, market manipulation, manipulation of the data.

The neutral sense survives in medicine and engineering, where manipulation of a joint or a machine is a plain description. Everywhere else it is an accusation, and market manipulation is a criminal offence.

Definitions of manipulation

1nounmanipulationSkilful handling, or the sly controlling of people.C1
“Through clever manipulation, he persuaded his elderly aunt to change her will.”

manipulation is a handling.

Where it comes from

Latin manipulus means a handful, from manus, a hand.

Latin
manipulus
Old French
manipule
French
manipulation
English, today
manipulation

From French manipulation, from Old French manipule, from Latin manipulus. Morphologically manipulate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

manipulation in the wild

There is controversy regarding the degree of risk of vertebral artery dissection, which can lead to stroke and death, from cervical manipulation.
Chiropractic
Photograph manipulation or photograph alteration is the modification of an otherwise genuine photograph.
Photograph manipulation
Some photograph manipulations are considered to be skillful artwork, while others are considered to be unethical practices, especially when used to deceive.
Photograph manipulation
Among the more well-known card tricks relying on card manipulation are Ambitious Card, and Three-card Monte, a common street hustle also known as Find the Lady.
Card manipulation
Many object manipulation skills are recognised as circus skills.
Object manipulation

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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