downplaying

downplaying is the present participle and gerund of downplay.

Meaning of downplay

downplay (third-person singular simple present downplays, present participle downplaying, simple past and past participle downplayed)

(transitive) To 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 158
Synonyms:

play down, trivialize, understate, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize, denigrate, degrade

downplaying (countable and uncountable, plural downplayings)

The act by which something is downplayed, or made to seem less important.
- Second and third are downplayings of both the extractability and focus on logical argumentation, as well as the significance of chronology in ascertaining the dialogues' meaning. I am thoroughly sympathetic on these points.2010, Sonja Tanner, In Praise of Plato's Poetic Imagination, page 6

plural	downplayings

What does downplaying mean?: Downplaying means the act by which something is downplayed, or made to seem less important.
What is downplaying the present participle and gerund of?: Downplaying is the present participle and gerund of downplay.
What part of speech is downplaying?: Downplaying is a noun.
What is the plural of downplaying?: The plural of downplaying is downplayings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: downplaying (page history and authors); downplay (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “downplaying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/downplaying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.