play down

play down
verb
understate the importance or quality of
-

he played down his royal ancestry

• Syn: ↑background, ↑downplay
• Ant: ↑play up, ↑foreground (for: ↑background)
• Derivationally related forms: ↑background (for: ↑background)
• Hypernyms: ↑stress, ↑emphasize, ↑emphasise, ↑punctuate, ↑accent, ↑accentuate
• Hyponyms: ↑wave off, ↑soft-pedal
• Verb Frames:
-

Somebody ——s something

-

Something ——s something

* * *

[verb]
minimize, gloss over, make light of, make little of, soft-pedal (informal), underplay, underrate

* * *

play down
To treat (something) as not very important or probable, esp less so than it is
• • •
Main Entry: ↑play

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ˌplay ˈdown [transitive] [present tense I/you/we/they play down he/she/it plays down present participle playing down past tense played down past participle played down] phrasal verb
to try to make a problem or difficult situation seem less important than it is

At first the government played down the threat to public health.

Thesaurus: to make something seem less important or specialsynonym
Main entry: play

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play down [phrasal verb]
play down (something) or play (something) down : to make (something) seem smaller or less important

She played down [=downplayed] her role in the research.

It was a significant mistake though our CEO tried to play it down.

• • •
Main Entry: ↑play

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • play down — (something) to try to make something seem less serious than it really is. He played down the seriousness of his condition because he didn t want anyone to worry. It s a sensitive issue, and they want to play it down until after the elections …   New idioms dictionary

  • play|down — «PLAY DOWN», noun. (in Canada) a play off …   Useful english dictionary

  • play down — [v] pretend as if something were unimportant belittle, deemphasize, gloss over*, hold back*, make light of*, make little of*, minimize, mute, restrain, soften, soft pedal*, underplay, underrate; concepts 49,59,63 Ant. blow up, build up, explode,… …   New thesaurus

  • play down — ► play down disguise the importance or significance of. Main Entry: ↑play …   English terms dictionary

  • play down — index disparage Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • Play-Down — Das Play down (auch Play out genannt) ist ein Ausscheidungskampf in einem Sportwettbewerb, durch den der Abstiegskampf entschieden wird. Genau wie das Play off folgt das Play down auf die Hauptrunde, deren Abschluss Tabelle die teilnehmenden… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Play-down — Das Play down (auch Play out genannt) ist ein Ausscheidungskampf in einem Sportwettbewerb, durch den der Abstiegskampf entschieden wird. Genau wie das Play off folgt das Play down auf die Hauptrunde, deren Abschluss Tabelle die teilnehmenden… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • play down — phrasal verb [transitive] Word forms play down : present tense I/you/we/they play down he/she/it plays down present participle playing down past tense played down past participle played down to try to make a problem or difficult situation seem… …   English dictionary

  • play down — PHRASAL VERB If you play down something, you try to make people believe that it is not particularly important. [V P n (not pron)] Western diplomats have played down the significance of the reports... [V P n (not pron)] He plays down rumours that… …   English dictionary

  • play down — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) v. depreciate, minimize, downplay. See detraction. play down to II (Roget s IV) v. Syn. belittle, hold down, hold back, minimize; see restrain 1 . III (Roget s Thesaurus II) I verb To make less emphatic… …   English dictionary for students

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