to play down
16
4.3
- phrasal verb
- /pleɪ daʊn/
:
restar importancia a
- During the meeting, she tried to play down the importance of the failed project to reassure the team.
- tried to play down
- tend to play down
- played down the role
And and then he always said, I'm playing it down, I'm playing it down.
- And and then he always said, I'm playing it down, I'm playing it down.
- So I want to play things down and say average.
- And that bad habit is playing down your accomplishments.
- Firstly, the royal family have a long history of playing down medical issues.
- But there's talking points here and you're playing it down.
- They are doing their best to not scare their children, to give them normal lives, to play down their fears, not stoke them.
- But what I love about that particular comment is it really nails the best way to play down a narcissist Stonewall.
Examples
-
Intelligence officials played down the reliability of those reports (DeYoung 2002b, A21).
Academic text (2003) -
Following the fire at the Monju reactor... officials played down the extent of the damage... and denied the existence of any footage of the sodium spill.
-
Sometimes the smart thing to do is to play down your intelligence.
Blog text (9) -
At the time, both sides were keen to play it down.
-
The goal was to play down the existence of military crime outside the service.
Academic text (1999) -
Major news personalities now seem to be in a rush to play down the scandal even more.
Blog text (29) -
But instead of playing down these supposed ethnic traits, they enhanced them.
Academic text (2001) -
Critics typically look at the first part, the impact on marginal cost, while playing down or ignoring the second part.
Academic text (2017) -
Our societal approach of making addiction a legal and social problem, while playing down its medical aspects, does not help this situation.
Academic text (2009) -
Opponents tended to play down the hype surrounding the bicycle as a catalyst for functional dress.
Academic text (2012)
Synonyms
89
4.7
Make a person or thing seem less important
59
5.3
Show something as less important or serious than it is
54
4.8
Make something seem less serious or important
28
7.0
Make something seem less important or serious
22
6.5
Make a problem or mistake seem less serious by leaving out details
22
4.2
To treat something as not important or serious
20
4.6
To make someone feel less confident or important
18
5.2
To make something seem smaller or less important than it really is
6
5.3
Make something seem less important than it really is
3
7.6
To make a problem or bad news seem less important
2
5.9
Make an idea or topic seem less important
2
4.5
Make something seem less important or valuable than it really is
2
4.1
To treat criticism or an insult as not important
1
6.7
To give too little attention to something
1
5.8
Show something as less common or important than it really is
Antonyms
How Downplayed
332
3.0
- US
28
7.0
117
3.7
16
4.3
3
7.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
play + down
The sense 'to make something seem less important' can be partly derived from 'play' (act/behave/pretend) plus 'down' (reduce or diminish), so there is a clear compositional signal that the action reduces importance. However, 'play' has many senses and phrasal-verb usages are somewhat idiosyncratic, so a B1 learner who knows the words may not reliably predict the exact meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Play down comes from the simple idea of play + down. Imagine turning the volume down on a radio so a song sounds quieter and less important. So, to play down something means to make it seem 'less important'.