Play down meaning
Play down is a phrasal verb that means to understate the seriousness or importance of a matter.
- Past simple
- played down
- Past participle
- played down
- -ing form
- playing down
What play down means
C1
To understate the seriousness or importance of a matter
Officials played down the scale of the delay.
Similar phrasal verbs
With play: play on, play around, play at, play with, play along, play around with, play back, play off, play someone/something off against someone/something, play out.
With down: turn down, let down, put down, slim down, go down, come down, break down, take down, keep down, set down.
Common questions
What does play down mean?
To understate the seriousness or importance of a matter.
What is the past tense of play down?
Played down, which is also its past participle.
Meanings and examples are written by Retite. The meanings follow Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0). Levels are based on the CEFR-J Wordlist and set by Retite.
