downplay

verb/ˈdaʊnˌpleɪ/

Frequency rank: #14,182 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to make something seem less important or serious than it really is

Illustration for the English word “downplay”

Example sentence

The politician tried to downplay the severity of the scandal during the press conference.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 14,101–14,200