as in to minimize
to reduce in apparent importance
he self-deprecatingly downplays his own contributions to the festival's success
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Recent Examples of downplay
Heat President Pat Riley last month downplayed a potential rebuild in the wake of his team’s three consecutive trips to the play-in round, with the Heat soundly routed in a playoff-record sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers in this season’s first round.
—
Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 12 June 2025
The official also downplayed talk of a wider feud between Gor and Musk.
—Brett Samuels, The Hill, 11 June 2025
Xinhua, which has about 100 active advertisements across Meta’s platforms, has downplayed the Uyghur genocide and published disinformation related to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.
—Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 10 June 2025
Ongoing Challenges And Customer Expectations To its credit, SAP did not downplay the ongoing hurdles that its customers face.
—Robert Kramer, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for downplay
Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 12 June 2025
The official also downplayed talk of a wider feud between Gor and Musk.
—Brett Samuels, The Hill, 11 June 2025
Xinhua, which has about 100 active advertisements across Meta’s platforms, has downplayed the Uyghur genocide and published disinformation related to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.
—Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 10 June 2025
Ongoing Challenges And Customer Expectations To its credit, SAP did not downplay the ongoing hurdles that its customers face.
—Robert Kramer, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for downplay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for downplay
Verb
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Here are some strategies for carving up a large restaurant bill to minimize stress on wait staff and prevent fights among tablemates.—
Lois K. Solomon,
Sun Sentinel,
25 June 2025
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Specifically, their proprietary algorithms forecast store and product sales across millions of SKUs and diverse product lines to maximize inventory turns, minimize overstock and, importantly, drive sales.—
Noah Barsky,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Verb
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Kiser's attorneys also filed a notice to dismiss some agencies from the lawsuit, and the court sealed a declaration Kiser wrote about this case.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
18 June 2025
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Last month, Fernando Casas-Gamboa’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging that ICE is wrongly detaining his client on immigration grounds despite Major ordering his pre-trial release in the criminal case.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 June 2025
Verb
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In 2024, Paul Weiss didn’t soft-pedal its liberal leanings.—
Ruth Marcus,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2025
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Goldberg Tuesday scoffed at the denials and efforts to soft-pedal the extent and potential danger of the breach.—
Dave Goldiner,
New York Daily News,
25 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Downplay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/downplay. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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