Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

play down

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.42 in modern English

Syllables: play -down
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"The essay attempts to play down the role slavery had in the Civil War."
"The senator played down the threat of a recession."
"During the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, Miguel played down his immigrant status by removing Chicano patois from his speech and adopting the nickname "Mike.""
"Reports that the project is in trouble have been circulating for many months and have been played down by officials."

Usage

Transitive verb

Inflected Forms

plays down (present, singular) playing down (participle, present) played down (participle, past) played down (past)

Derived Forms

downplay

Synonyms

de-emphasize downplay bagatellize banalize belittle cut down denigrate degrade deprecate derogate disparage dispraise

Antonyms

play up big up cut it fat exaggerate hyperbolize overcharge overdo overemphasize overstate stretch three-sheet

Questions

What does play down mean?: To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious.

How to pronounce play down

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “play down”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “play down”.
Repeat and practice — Say “play down” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.