manipulative tactic
- noun
:
táctica manipulativa
- The company's manipulative tactics led to complaints from customers.
Examples
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Many politicians employ manipulative tactics to gain votes.
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Using a manipulative tactic can damage your reputation.
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By recognizing the manipulative tactic, employees were able to resist pressure from management.
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She exposed their manipulative tactic of spreading false information to win support.
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Using guilt as a manipulative tactic, she tried to persuade him to change his mind.
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His apology was a manipulative tactic meant to win her trust again after the betrayal.
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Critics argue that presenting false statistics is a manipulative tactic to influence public opinion.
Synonyms
326
3.5
To make someone believe something false so you can get what you want
130
5.5
Getting someone to do what you want to help yourself using clever or dishonest actions
85
4.9
A clever trick used to gain an advantage in talk or negotiation
27
4.9
To use dishonest ways to cheat people
15
7.2
A trick people use to confuse or control someone to gain an advantage
12
6.0
Secret dishonest actions that harm or make someone look bad, often in politics and business
8
8.2
Using clever but not clearly against the rules moves to get an advantage in a game or competition
5
6.3
Strong pressure from someone to make you do something
4
6.3
A forceful action to gain control over other people
2
8.6
A trick to confuse or upset someone
1
5.4
An action that hurts or deceives someone on purpose
1
7.4
A way of putting pressure on someone to make them agree
1
8.7
Strong pressure by officials to influence people's actions or decisions
A plan that uses dishonest tricks to get an unfair advantage
A clever but dishonest plan to gain an advantage
A clever, hidden way to persuade someone by making them think or feel differently
An aggressive, unfair way of trying to gain an advantage over others in business
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The overall meaning is directly compositional: 'manipulative' (influencing or controlling others, often deceptively) modifies 'tactic' (a planned action), so a learner who knows both words can infer a strategy used to control or influence people. The adjective+noun construction is a standard, cross-linguistic pattern, making the phrase immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
The phrase manipulative tactic may come from the image of a puppeteer pulling strings to make a puppet move. Manipulative is like moving the puppet by hand and tactic is a planned move, so the phrase means 'a planned way to control or influence' people, often in an unfair way.