as in to minimize
to reduce in apparent importance
you're at a point in your career where you can de-emphasize your academic record and emphasize your work experience
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Recent Examples of de-emphasize
The Giants also appear to be de-emphasizing Dart as a runner to keep him healthy, which could lead to him getting a higher volume of passing attempts in Week 15.
—
Jacob Camenker, USA Today, 14 Dec. 2025
Cyberlink de-emphasizes the automatic, easy movie project tools, instead focusing on serious full-power video editing.
—PC Magazine, 15 Nov. 2025
The changes have included an overhaul of Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has de-emphasized a listing of relevant web links in its results and increasingly highlighted AI overviews and conversational responses provided through an AI mode.
—Michael Liedtke, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2025
The base Microsoft 365 subscription itself has become increasingly essential as Microsoft de-emphasizes standalone Office purchases and makes cloud integration more central to document workflows.
—Kevin Williams, CNBC, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for de-emphasize
Jacob Camenker, USA Today, 14 Dec. 2025
Cyberlink de-emphasizes the automatic, easy movie project tools, instead focusing on serious full-power video editing.
—PC Magazine, 15 Nov. 2025
The changes have included an overhaul of Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has de-emphasized a listing of relevant web links in its results and increasingly highlighted AI overviews and conversational responses provided through an AI mode.
—Michael Liedtke, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2025
The base Microsoft 365 subscription itself has become increasingly essential as Microsoft de-emphasizes standalone Office purchases and makes cloud integration more central to document workflows.
—Kevin Williams, CNBC, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for de-emphasize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for de-emphasize
Verb
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Every group-stage match will involve a border crossing into the US, but, according to a spokesperson for the Iranian Football Federation, players will only enter the US one day before the first match and two days before each of the next two matches to minimize their time in the country.—
Julia Vargas Jones,
CNN Money,
14 June 2026
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Wear clothing that minimizes skin exposure to ticks when possible.—
Olivia McIntosh,
Martha Stewart,
14 June 2026
Verb
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Press releases from the day show that Chaffins actually tried to downplay the national news hook of the 1930s criminals by pointing toward the Kentucky couple's peaceful arrest and lack of injuries caused.—
Stephanie Kuzydym,
The Courier-Journal,
7 July 2025
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Yulissa issued an apology after exiting the dating series, but has subsequently gone on social media downplaying the severity of her actions.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
6 July 2025
Verb
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The charges of using a computer to commit a crime and interfering with a telecommunications device were dismissed, according to prosecutors.—
DeJanay Booth-Singleton,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
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In January 2021, Erickson was charged with one misdemeanor count of reckless driving, but the charge was later dismissed, his lawyer Mark Werksman told The New York Times.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
11 June 2026
Verb
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Questlove is too much of a humanist to soft-pedal’s Maurice White’s contradictions.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
4 June 2026
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Whatever your preconceived notions about Feldman are, Hume’s film will expand and challenge them; the movie’s greatness lies in its ability to capture all of Feldman’s contradictions and self-destructiveness, empathizing with him without soft-pedaling his sins.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“De-emphasize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/de-emphasize. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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