playing on
Manipulating someone's feelings
Playing on means exploiting or taking advantage of something, usually a feeling, weakness, or vulnerability: The advertisement plays on parents' fears.
It suggests manipulation—using something that already exists in the target to achieve your effect.
A con artist plays on greed; a politician plays on resentment.
The phrase can also mean continuing to play despite circumstances: The injured player kept playing on.
- capitalizingProfiting from circumstances
- performingExecuting an action
- exploitingUsing selfishly for benefit
- manipulatingInfluencing through cunning
- mind gamesPsychological manipulation tactics
emotional manipulation · guilt-tripping · heart strings · participating · engaging · gameplay · leveraging · acting · anxieties · pressuring · games · coaxing · vulnerabilities · maneuvering · persuasion · competing · toying · catch
playing onstopping
Ceasing to continue
ceasing · quitting · halting · giving up · calling it quits
playing onrespecting
About; on the topic
protecting · supporting · reassuring · honoring · empowering
play, player, playful, playing, played, playground, players, playfully, replay