Meanings
present singular third person downplays · participle present downplaying · participle past downplayed · past downplayed
- transitiveTo de-emphasize; to present or portray as less important or consequential.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is no ordinary thriller. John Cassavetes, as usual, downplays the plot, opting for character and endless improvisation, but it does not entirely work in this setting.
1984, Marc Sigoloff, The Films of the Seventies, A Filmography of American, British and Canadian Films 1970–1979, page 1581 more example
[Milo] Yiannopoulos, whose own career as a far-right pundit imploded in 2017 after remarks he had made downplaying the seriousness of pedophilia surfaced, claims he has more damaging videos to release about [Ali] Alexander and [Nick] Fuentes.
2023 April 17, Will Sommer, “‘Stop the Steal’ Organizer Apologizes After Being Accused of Asking Teen Boys for D*ck Pics”, in The Daily Beast, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2023Synonyms: play down, trivialize, understate, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo de-emphasize; to present or portray as less important or consequential.
More synonyms by meaning
verbunderstate the importance or quality of
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Synthetic form of the phrase play down. By surface analysis, down- + play.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic قَلَّلَ
- قَلَّلَ (qallala)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Bulgarian омаловажавам
- омаловажавам (omalovažavam)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Catalan empetitir, minimitzar
- empetitirto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- minimitzarto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Chinese Mandarin 淡化
- 淡化 (dànhuà)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Czech bagatelizovat
- bagatelizovatto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Dutch bagatelliseren, geringschatten
- bagatelliserento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- geringschattento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- minimaliserento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Finnish vähätellä, bagatellisoida
- vähätelläto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- bagatellisoidato de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
French minimiser
- minimiserto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
German herunterspielen, verharmlosen
- herunterspielento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- verharmlosento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- kleinredento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- bagatellisierento de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Hebrew גִמֵּד, הִצְנִיעַ
- גִמֵּד (giméd)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- הִצְנִיעַ (hitsnía)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Italian minimizzare, sminuire
- minimizzareto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- sminuireto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Japanese 矮小化する
- 矮小化する (waishōka suru)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Polish lekceważyć, zlekceważyć
- lekceważyćto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- zlekceważyćto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- bagatelizowaćto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- zbagatelizowaćto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- bimbaćto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Portuguese minimizar
- minimizarto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Russian преуменьша́ть
- преуменьша́ть (preumenʹšátʹ)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Spanish minimizar, quitar hierro
- minimizarto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- quitar hierroto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- quitar importanciato de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- menospreciarto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Swedish tona ner, tona ned
- tona nerto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- tona nedto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- bagatelliserato de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Ukrainian приме́ншувати, приме́ншити
- приме́ншувати (pryménšuvaty)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- приме́ншити (pryménšyty)to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Welsh bychanu, lleihau
- bychanuto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
- lleihauto de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequential
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
downplay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downplay
“downplay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downplay. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “downplay,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downplay.
Source: downplay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.