Downplay: meaning, example and synonyms
Downplayv. To make something seem less important or serious than it really is.
Example
The company's report downplayed the drop in sales, devoting a single sentence to it while describing new products for twelve pages.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- minimize, understate, belittle, play down
- Antonyms
- emphasize, exaggerate, highlight, stress
- Memory tip
- Down + play: play it down so it looks smaller than it is.
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Check yourself: Downplay in context
Officials tried to ______ the severity of the outbreak, describing it as a seasonal illness even as hospitals ran out of beds.
Answer: downplay. Calling a serious outbreak seasonal makes it seem less serious: downplay. Engender, epitomize and designate don't mean minimize.
In her acceptance speech, the scientist ______ her own role in the discovery, insisting that credit belonged to the graduate students who ran the experiments.
Answer: downplayed. Giving credit to others made her role seem smaller: downplayed. Assuaged, defied and designated don't mean made less of.