downplay

English

Etymology

Synthetic form of the phrase play down.

Pronunciation

Audio (US) (file)

Verb

downplay (third-person singular simple present downplays, present participle downplaying, simple past and past participle downplayed)

(transitive) To de-emphasize; to present or portray as less important or consequential.
He would sometimes downplay his Princeton education by saying simply that he went to school in New Jersey.

Usage notes

The synonymous alternative form play down is slightly more formal, or slightly less informal.

Synonyms

play down
trivialize
understate

Translations

to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential

Arabic: قَلَّلَ‎ (qallala)
Bulgarian: омаловажавам (bg) (omalovažavam)
Catalan: empetitir (ca), minimitzar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 淡化 (zh) (dànhuà)
Czech: bagatelizovat (cs) impf
Dutch: bagatelliseren (nl), geringschatten, minimaliseren (nl)
Finnish: vähätellä (fi)
French: minimiser (fr)
German: herunterspielen (de), verharmlosen (de), kleinreden (de), bagatellisieren (de)
Hebrew: גִמֵּד‎ (he) (giméd), הִצְנִיעַ‎ (hitsnía)
Italian: minimizzare (it), sminuire (it)
Polish: lekceważyć (pl) impf, zlekceważyć (pl) pf, bagatelizować (pl) impf, zbagatelizować (pl) pf, bimbać (pl) impf (colloquial)
Russian: преуменьша́ть (ru) (preumenʹšátʹ)
Spanish: minimizar (es), quitar hierro (es)
Ukrainian: приме́ншувати impf (pryménšuvaty), приме́ншити pf (pryménšyty)

Anagrams

play down, playdown