manipulation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or practice of manipulating.
• noun The state of being manipulated.
• noun Shrewd or devious management, especially for one's own advantage.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act or art of manipulating; manual management; manual and mechanical operation of any kind in science or art, specifically, in pharmacy, the preparation of drugs; in chem., the preparation and employment of utensils, apparatus, and reagents in chemical work.
• noun Figuratively, the act of operating upon anything by contrivance or influence; management; specifically, insidious management; adjustment or accommodation to one's own purpose or advantage: as, manipulation of voters, figures, or facts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun The use of the hands in mesmeric operations.
• noun Artful management; ; sometimes, a management or treatment for purposes of deception or fraud.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The practice of manipulating or the state of being manipulated.
• noun The skillful use of the hands in, for example, chiropractic.
• noun The management of some situation, especially for one’s own advantage.
• noun The usage of psychological influence over a person or situation to gain an outcome.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage
• noun the action of touching with the hands (or the skillful use of the hands) or by the use of mechanical means