verb · academic
manipulate
UK/məˈnɪpjʊleɪt/US/məˈnɪpjəˌleɪt/ma·NIP·u·late
to control or influence something/someone cleverly, often unfairly; to handle or operate (e.g. data, instruments)
Examples
“Politicians can manipulate public opinion through selective information.”
“The data were manipulated to highlight the trend.”
“Researchers manipulated variables to test the hypothesis.”
Band 8 sentence
“The study manipulated exposure to different media sources to assess their influence on consumer behaviour.”
Collocations
- manipulate data/variables/opinion
- be manipulated by
Word family
Common mistakes
manipulate opinion→manipulate public opinion
manipulate the data to true→manipulate the data to show/illustrate
Say it for a higher band
5control→6handle→7+manipulate
Synonyms
control
handle
Easily confused
control
“The experiment was conducted under strict control.”
Related words
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In Sublist 5
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