to dumb down
15
5.3
- phrasal verb
- /dʌm daʊn/
- Informal
:
simplificar
- To reach a wider audience, the author decided to dumb down the technical terms in the book.
And so I don't need to dumb down who I am to fit into anyone's box.
- And so I don't need to dumb down who I am to fit into anyone's box.
- And so the experience of Christmas has been dumbed down.
- He says movie sci-fi is by definition dumbed down.
- Now, whether your concepts can ever be dumbed down to us, that might be hard.
- I believe my personal belief is that the whole art of making music and songwriting and stuff has been dumbed down to the point of being a legal hustle.
- They don't want to hire PhDs to dumb down and to lure their ambitions.
- because you, you can't dumb, you know, dumb down,
- Or if when you do that, he goes there, then you'd play there but would break it down so simply as like, you know, so dumb down but so tactical.
- You know, a lot of my acting ability, you know, one thing I used to do is dumb down.
- I see that average person getting less and less educated and the school's dumbing, dumbing down rather than trying to spread knowledge and civic education.
- Yeah, everything dumbed down and shit is all about like you know about beats and vibe and feel like you know what I'm saying about like words or word play.
Examples
-
But you know, people kinda want simpler stuff, so, let's kind of dumb down production and give them what they want.
-
Lukes exposes the silly excesses that have divided our universities and dumbed down their standards in the name of multiculturalism and diversity.
Academic text (1997) -
However, society may no longer be willing to "dumb down" the ethics education of future business leaders.
Academic text (2010) -
One response of schools is to "dumb down" the curriculum.
Academic text (1998) -
And there is Fox & Friends, etc. ready to dumb down any subject they choose.
Blog text (13) -
I too am very concerned about this trend to 'dumb down common criteria.'
Blog text (8) -
To this end, they have encouraged the tendency to "dumb down" the citizenship training process until today it is almost meaningless.
Academic text (2002) -
We recently attended the local "family Mass" and heard the most amazingly dumbed-down readings.
Blog text (15) -
If it does, the mission will be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, and we can't afford that.
Academic text (2002) -
Rather than becoming "dumbed down" in ignorant compliance, we become ever more vigilant, as needed.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
99
2.5
Make something easier to understand or use
71
2.8
To make something simpler by cutting out details
28
2.7
Make something easy to understand by not adding extra details
16
6.3
Make something seem simpler than it really is so people get the wrong idea
7
5.1
To make something easier to understand by removing mystery or confusion
1
9.1
To reduce something complex to basic features while ignoring important details
To make a difficult idea simple so more people can understand it
Antonyms
How Simple
Surface Forms
Morphology
dumb + down
The adjective 'dumb' (lacking intellectual sharpness) combined with the particle 'down' gives a clear sense of lowering or reducing intellectual level, so the meaning 'make simpler/to reduce complexity or intellectual content' is directly derivable from the parts. This verb-particle composition (verb meaning ‘make X less/intellectually poorer’) is a transparent, productive pattern in English and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Dumb down comes from the image of making something dumb, or less smart, and pushing it down to a lower level, like turning a complex idea into a very simple one. So, dumb down means 'to make something simpler and less detailed, often too simple'.