play down

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to make little or light of; minimize the importance of

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play down Idioms  

1. Make little of, minimize the importance of, as in A skillful salesman plays down the drawbacks of the product and emphasizes its good features . [First half of 1900s]

2. play down to . Lower one's standards to meet the demands of someone, as in Some stand-up comics deliberately play down to the vulgar taste of their audiences . [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

How often has the Kookaburra ball been highlighted as a point of difference between cricket played in the UK and the cricket played down under?

From BBC

In his evidence to the inquiry, Sunak plays down a link between his scheme and the spread of the virus saying a second wave "happened in every other country in Europe".

From BBC

Inside Number 10 there's an admission that it all went terribly wrong, but there was an attempt to play down what really happened.

From BBC

Hearn has already played down reports a deal is close and says Paul is in talks with other potential opponents.

From BBC

When selecting stories to highlight via push notifications to the seven million users of the BBC News app, editors systematically played down immigration.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• belittle
• gloss over
• minimize
• mute
• soft pedal
• soften
• underplay