to soft-pedal
3
7.6
- phrasal verb
- /ˈsɔftˌpɛdəl/
:
minimizar
- The teacher decided to soft-pedal the importance of grades, encouraging students to focus more on learning.
- soft-pedal the criticism
- try to soft-pedal
Or they don't really mean it, or that's just how they grew up and they'll soft pedal on it so they can keep getting the goodies.
- Or they don't really mean it, or that's just how they grew up and they'll soft pedal on it so they can keep getting the goodies.
- So people will soft pedal their criticism to us in part because they don't want to incur our hostility.
Examples
-
But I don't buy that we need to soft-pedal our opposition to this stupid, wasteful, immoral war for the next five weeks.
Blog text (3) -
They knew the facts all along, but repeatedly soft-pedaled them and on occasion even denied having such evidence.
Blog text (8) -
I soft-pedaled things 20 years ago, and even then, there were great protests.
Blog text (23) -
Don't try to soft-pedal the bad news, but do try to find something for the client to hang on to.
Academic text (1995) -
Now, look, Holly, I want you to soft-pedal this stuff with Sebastian.
-
So people will soft pedal their criticism to us in part because they don't want to incur our hostility.
-
Noting that the new finding is consistent with other research, Patterson said, "I'm not clear on why they appear to soft-pedal their results in their conclusions."
Blog text (9) -
Notice also that Boehner soft-peddles the education terminations by labeling them "ineffective programs."
Blog text (18) -
Instead of soft-pedaling the criticism of China's human rights as in the past, the administration has refrained from watering down the more explicit indictments of China in the State Department's annual human rights report.
Academic text (1993) -
But tonight, given the chance to throw that argument in the president's face, the Republican nominee mostly soft-pedaled it, shying away from sharp contrasts, emphasizing areas of agreement, and repeatedly mentioning his own desire for peace.
Blog text (28)
Synonyms
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
19
5.0
Make something unpleasant seem nicer than it is
16
4.3
To make something seem less important than it really is
6
5.3
Make something seem less important than it really is
5
8.8
To make a wrong action seem less serious to others
1
7.2
To make something unpleasant sound better to avoid hurting feelings
1
6.7
To give too little attention to something
Treat a problem as less important to avoid dealing with it
Antonyms
How Downplayed
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Soft-pedal comes from the piano, where the soft pedal is pressed to 'make the sound quieter'; a helpful image is pressing down with your foot to make music softer. That's why to soft-pedal something is to 'downplay' it or make it seem less important.