make light of
Treat as trivial
To make light of something is to treat it as unimportant or not serious: She made light of her injuries, insisting she was fine.
The phrase often implies minimizing what others consider significant—either as genuine reassurance or dismissive deflection: He made light of the criticism, but you could tell it stung.
- shrug offDismiss as unimportant
- brush asideReject without serious thought
- brush offDismissive rejection of someone
- dismissSend away or reject
- understateExpress with restraint
pooh-pooh · trivialize · play down · minimize · downplay · disregard · wave away · turn a blind eye · laugh off · take lightly · joke · mock · soft-pedal · jest · underestimate · discount · ridicule · deflect
- dismissingbrush aside, brush off, wave off, shrug off, blow off
make light oftake seriously
Treat as significant
give weight to · take to heart · make a mountain out of a molehill · blow out of proportion · dwell on
light, make, belittle, belittling, belittled, trivializing, underestimating