manipulation

manipulation
    n 1: exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's
         own advantage; "his manipulation of his friends was
         scandalous" [syn: {manipulation}, {use}]
    2: the action of touching with the hands (or the skillful use of
       the hands) or by the use of mechanical means [syn:
       {handling}, {manipulation}]
    

Manipulation \Ma*nip`u*la"tion\, n. [Cf. F. manipulation.]
   1. The act or process of manipulating, or the state of being
      manipulated; the act of handling work by hand; use of the
      hands, in an artistic or skillful manner, in science or
      art.
      [1913 Webster]

            Manipulation is to the chemist like the external
            senses to the mind. --Whewell.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The use of the hands in mesmeric operations.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Artful management; as, the manipulation of political
      bodies; sometimes, a management or treatment for purposes
      of deception or fraud.
      [1913 Webster]
    

133 Moby Thesaurus words for "manipulation":
      accounting, action, agency, anal intercourse, analysis, artifice,
      authority, autoeroticism, automatic electronic navigation,
      bear raid, behind-the-scenes influence, bestiality, braking,
      buggery, bull raid, cabal, caressing, collusion, command,
      complicity, complot, computation, conduct, confederacy, connivance,
      conspiracy, contrivance, contriving, control, coordination, corner,
      corner in, counterplot, covin, cunnilingus, deep-laid plot,
      devices, direction, driving, employment, engineering, execution,
      exercise, expedients, exploitation, fact distribution, feeling,
      fellatio, fellation, finagling, finesse, fingering, forecasts,
      frame-up, friction, frottage, functioning, game, governance,
      government, guidance, hand job, handling, husbandry, influence,
      inspection, intrigue, irrumation, lead, leading, little game,
      machination, management, managery, managing, maneuvering,
      maneuvers, masturbation, monopoly, nonlinear calibrations,
      occupation, onanism, operancy, operation, oral-genital stimulation,
      ordering, output measurement, palpation, pederasty, performance,
      performing, petting, pilotage, plot, plotting, political influence,
      practice, pressure, processing, raid, record keeping, regulation,
      responsibility, rigging, rubbing, running, scheme, schemery,
      scheming, self-abuse, sodomy, steerage, steering, stratagem,
      stroking, supersonic flow detection, tactical maneuvers, tactics,
      the conn, the helm, the wheel, touching, trick, underplot, using,
      utilization, wash sale, washing, web of intrigue, wire-pulling,
      work, working, workings