Manipulating

How to spell manipulating

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce manipulating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does manipulating mean?

1. verbControlling or influencing a person or situation cleverly and often unfairly, to one's own advantage.
2. verbSkilfully handling, operating, or adjusting an object or material by hand.

Manipulating in a sentence

• The con artist spent years manipulating vulnerable savers out of their money.

• The surgeon was carefully manipulating the tiny instrument inside the joint.

• She accused her colleague of manipulating the figures to win approval for the budget.

• The potter kept manipulating the wet clay until it formed a smooth bowl.

Where does manipulating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin manipulus, which literally meant 'a handful' or 'a bundle', built from manus 'hand' and an element related to plere 'to fill'; a Roman manipulus was even a small division of soldiers carrying a standard. From this came the modern Latin and French verb manipuler, originally a technical term for handling materials by hand, especially in pharmacy and chemistry. English took 'manipulate' in the early nineteenth century, first meaning to handle or operate something skilfully with the hands. The figurative sense, controlling or influencing people for one's own ends, grew up through the same period as a natural extension of cunning 'handling'. Because the root really is about the hand, the spelling keeps a single 'l' and a single 'p', and the hidden 'u' in manip-U-lating is the syllable that catches people out.

How the word is built

• manipul- (from Latin manipulus: a handful)
• -ate (verb)
• -ing (present participle)