| Verb | 1. | play down - understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"wave off - dismiss as insignificant; "He waved off suggestions of impropriety" soft-pedal - play down or obscure; "His advisers soft-pedaled the president's blunder" foreground, highlight, play up, spotlight - move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics" | |