manipulatema·nip·u·late /məˈnɪpjəleɪt/ verb [transitiveT]1to make someone or something behave in the way you want, using skilful and often dishonest methodsmanipulate somebody to do somethingCompanies manipulate consumers to buy their products through advertising.
This was a deliberate attempt to manipulate the market (=buy and sell shares to make the market seem active when it is not).
activities designed to manipulate (=change the price of) soybean contracts
2to process or operate something that needs a lot of skill, for example technical information or a complicated piece of equipmentComputer analysis allows researchers to manipulate data in many different ways.
software for storing and manipulating images