make light of

Idioms  

1. Also, make little of. Treat as unimportant, as in He made light of his allergies, or She made little of the fact that she'd won. The first term, which uses light in the sense of “trivial,” was first recorded in William Tyndale's 1526 Bible translation (Matthew 22:5), in the parable of the wedding feast, where the invited guests reject the king's invitation: “They made light of it and went their ways.” The variant dates from the early 1800s. For an antonym, see make much of.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

make light of

Che was made to make light of molestation claims against Michael Jackson.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026

The team was able to make light of the mishap.

From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026

Kaufman stressed: "The defence does not disrespect the soul of any deceased person, nor does it make light of the loss of life."

From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026

X owner Elon Musk and other executives at xAI—the artificial intelligence company that now owns X Corporation—appeared to make light of the matter before acknowledging that they needed to “tighten our gaurdrails.”

From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2026

This is the way they might make light of me.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Related Words

• curtail
• decrease
• diminish
• downplay
• lessen
• play down
• reduce
• trivialize
• underestimate