Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to deemphasize

to deemphasize

2 5.9
Make an idea or topic seem less important
  • verb
  • /diːˈɛmfəˌsaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : desenfatizar
  • In Asian culture, emotional expression is deemphasized since it can create disharmony in interpersonal relationships (Uba, 1994).
  • deemphasize the role
  • emphasize or deemphasize

Maybe when you have the prism experience the the previously deemphasized synapses become upregulated without any change of axons.

Examples

  • Critics tend to believe the integrated social studies curriculum deemphasizes the individual academic disciplines.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Consumers wanted school psychologists to deemphasize testing for disabilities and engage in a broader role.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Which really raises the question, did they ever deemphasize performance?

  • In Massachusetts, this new position helped to eventually, if only temporarily, deemphasize the religious aspect in discussions of the state's laws.

    Academic text (2010)

  • But nonlegal factors also exist that deemphasize quality over quantity.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Three suggestions for deemphasizing the importance of these skills are provided.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Descriptive methods of teaching composition have deemphasized the structure of writing.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Affinity distance is reduced by developing a greater understanding of cultural values and styles and by deemphasizing formal status.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Despite the disparities among biologists, some physics topics can safely be deemphasized in an IPLS course.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The teacher decided to deemphasize standardized tests in favor of project-based assessments.

Synonyms

to diminish
vsto deemphasize
201 3.7

To become less in size, importance, or value

focuses more on reducing size or value than just lowering attention
to downplay
vsto deemphasize
59 5.3

Show something as less important or serious than it is

is about giving less attention or prominence rather than removal
to minimize
vsto deemphasize
54 4.8

Make something seem less serious or important

stresses reducing perceived importance rather than actual value
to downgrade
vsto deemphasize
43 4.9

To make something lower in rank, value or importance

reduces formal status rather than just giving less attention
to trivialize
vsto deemphasize
  • US
28 7.0

Make something seem less important or serious

tends to dismiss importance more harshly than merely lowering emphasis
to devalue
vsto deemphasize
22 5.0

To make something seem less important or respected

affects actual worth or respect more than mere emphasis change
to play down
vsto deemphasize
16 4.3

To make something seem less important than it really is

focuses on lowering attention rather than changing facts
to underemphasize
vsto deemphasize
1 6.7

To give too little attention to something

notes the tendency to underweight importance rather than balance it
to de-emphasize
vsto deemphasize
  • US
5.3

Make something seem less important

is the unhyphenated modern spelling of the same verb

Antonyms

to emphasize
  • US
397 3.7

To show that something is very important

to highlight
340 3.3

To emphasize something so it stands out as important

How Emphasized

to highlight
340 3.3
to emphasize
  • US
397 3.7
to note
318 1.8
to mention
∞ 1.0
to deemphasize
  • US
2 5.9
to ignore
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

deemphasize infinitive
deemphasized past
deemphasized past participle
deemphasizing present participle
deemphasizes third person singular

Morphology

deemphasize = emphasize (transparent) = de + emphas + ize

The verb is a straightforward reducing formation from 'emphasize', meaning to give something less emphasis.

Etymology

Deemphasize starts with de- meaning 'reduce' or 'remove' and uses emphasize, from emphasis meaning 'special importance' or 'stress'. So to deemphasize is to 'make something less important' or to give it less attention.