manipulativeadj.n.

1836 I. Taylor Physical Theory another Life (1857) 154 A wonder of skill..as well as of manipulative execution.

1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. 390 The manipulative details required..belong to the department of organic chemistry.

1862 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. 132 The workmen of that place [sc. Birmingham] are still superior to most others in executing machinery requiring manipulative skill.

1890 Spectator 1 Nov. 615/2 One of those cunning feats of manipulative skill peculiar to the Oriental.

1968 R. Kyle Love Lab. ix. 125 Lillian had just completed a manipulative session and was wearing only a wrapper.

1971 Nature 30 Apr. 578/2 For they are also clearly pre-adaptive to efficient use of the hands as manipulative organs, in such activities as food gathering and transport.

1996 Here's Health Oct. 55/1 McTimoney chiropractic is a gentle, effective whole-body manipulative method.

1881 Nature 28 Apr. 599/2 Bunsen's untiring energy and wonderful manipulative power.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 11/4 The powerful manipulative interests are watching events closely.

1947 M. M. Lewis Lang. in Society i. 24 The manipulative and the declarative are the twin incentives by which the development of language is fostered in the child, and remain the essential functions of language in society.

1971 E. Dichter Motivating Human Behavior 3 Some people begin to question the manipulative nature of motivational research.

1988 M. M. R. Khan When Spring Comes vi. 142 Benjamin, even though manipulative, rarely lied.

1998 R. Gordon Ailments through Ages 148 Proust had the shallow, attention-seeking, manipulative personality of hysteria, which mimics illness for its own ends.

1957 Arithm. Teacher Oct. 173 These children showed a good understanding of fractions when using manipulative materials.]

1965 Arithm. Teacher Jan. 87/2 (advt.) He has been exposed to a programmed course of manipulatives from the Learning Center.

1968 Arithm. Teacher Oct. 524 (advt.) Math manipulatives..at reasonable prices.

1988 Arithm. Teacher 35 No. 6. 57 Manipulatives often are not used to their full advantage or are abandoned too quickly. Manipulatives are very important in developing students' understanding of fraction concepts and must not be abandoned prematurely.

1994 Our Schools, our Selves Nov. 49 I don't have to save bottle caps as counters anymore; we have lots of math manipulatives.

1973 Physical Therapy 53 47/1 Faculty membership in a society or organization for manipulative therapists was limited to three individuals..in the fifty-one schools surveyed.

1989 S. Fulder Handbk. Complementary Med. (rev. ed.) v. 101 The Committee..recommended that chiropractic and osteopathy should be registered in each state by means of a Manipulative Therapists (Chiropractors and Osteopaths) Act.

1929 W. A. Streeter New Healing vi. 77 Osteopathy is a manipulative therapy which..aims at aiding the natural powers of resistance and self-healing possessed by the human body.

1983 B. Inglis & R. West Alternative Health Guide 77 Manipulative therapies are very common in primitive societies. This Indian Kathakali dancer is using his feet to massage his pupil's legs, thus releasing the boy's muscles.

1989 Atlantic Oct. 78/1 The basic naturopathic repertoire includes manipulative therapy (similar to what chiropractors do).

1911 Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 8 66 The realist..may well insist that he is not proceeding merely manipulatively, as he is charged with, but just as empirically as our critic would have him.

1947 M. M. Lewis Lang. in Society 23 The child uses speech manipulatively when it is an instrument to secure the satisfaction of his primary needs.

1990 Harper's Mag. Aug. 6/3 Individuals get railroaded into prison on the basis of affirmations manipulatively extracted from impressionable children.

1949 M. Mead Male & Female ii. 26 Greater awareness does not always mean greater manipulativeness.

1975 N.Y. Times 4 Mar. 31 You pity their failings—their determination to ‘advance’ their children as if life were a relay race,..their manipulativeness and insularity.

1989 Times 23 Sept. 40/6 The private cruelty of Rousseau or the manipulativeness of Marx [do not] necessarily disqualify their theories.