play upon
To use someone's feelings or a word's double meaning to get an effect — a more old-fashioned way of saying 'play on.'
Meanings
(Formal/literary) To deliberately exploit someone's emotions, weaknesses, or fears.
"The demagogue played upon the crowd's deepest anxieties to win their support."
""He played upon the credulity of those who were anxious to believe him.""
— Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790
(Formal/literary) To make use of the double meaning of a word; to pun.
"Shakespeare delighted in playing upon words to create layers of comic meaning."
'Play upon' is largely interchangeable with 'play on' but sounds more literary or rhetorical. Found in older literature and formal writing. Rarely used in everyday speech.
Commonly used with
Forms
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