To manipulate means to handle or control something skillfully with your hands or tools. It can also mean to influence people or situations in a clever, often unfair or secretive way.
From Latin 'manipulus' meaning 'handful', from 'manus' (hand) and 'plere' (to fill). It first meant handling things by hand before taking on the idea of handling people and events for your own purposes.
Manipulation started out as neutral, even positive—like a surgeon skillfully manipulating instruments. The word shows how 'having things in your hands' can shift from careful skill to sneaky control, depending on intent.
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