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We call a person/act/etc. that manipulates a manipulative person/act/etc.

Now I want to talk about a person who is manipulative and I want to say that she has a flaw which is that she is manipulative. I cannot say a manipulative flaw because that would mean the flaw manipulates itself. So how can I describe the flaw. I want one single word.

Personally, it seems to me that manipulational is the best option but I found that it has been used very rarely.

The/a manipulational flaw: a flaw because of being manipulative.

Compare for example communicative and communicational. A person is communicative who communicates well. So that person has communicational skills, skills related to communication.

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  • You use 'a flaw which is that she is manipulative' as well as 'a flaw because of being manipulative', and the former makes more sense. 'Manipulative' is itself pejorative, and thus adequate. 'He is manipulative.' 'Communicational' is not pejorative, so 'flaw' would be necessary. // If I saw 'He has a manipulational flaw' in a piece of work I was marking, would I knock a mark off for ungrammaticality / error in semantics per se? No. For non-idiomaticity / clunkiness? Yes.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 11:06
  • Sounds like she is sneaky or devious.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 12:06
  • I don't find your example helpful in trying to come up with anything, as I'd never say someone had "communicational skills". I'd say they have "communication skills".
    – Steve Lovell
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 19:17
  • @SteveLovell - But what about "vocational skills"?
    – aparente001
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 4:11
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    You don't need the word you're looking for, because it is sufficient to say, "She is manipulative." It is understood that this is a serious character flaw.
    – aparente001
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 4:12

1 Answer 1

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Manipulator [muh-nip-yuh-ley-ter]/ noun

  1. a person who manipulates

Or

manipulativeness

his manipulativeness is a flaw.

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