soft-pedaling
Toning it down
Soft-pedaling is downplaying or de-emphasizing something, treating it more gently than it perhaps deserves: The administration has been soft-pedaling the economic risks.
The term comes from the piano's soft pedal, which mutes the sound.
To soft-pedal bad news is to present it in the least alarming way possible.
Reduce to smallest extent
- understateExpress with restraint
- deemphasizeReduce perceived significance
- play downDiminish perceived significance
- diminishTo make smaller
underplay · gloss over · whitewash · sugarcoat · tone down · water down · temper · moderate
Tactful and sensitive
- delicateEasily broken or harmed
- gentleSoft and kind
- discreetCareful to avoid notice
- circumspectCarefully considering consequences
cautious · careful · measured · guarded · restrained · understated · low-key · subtle
minimize
Reduce to smallest extent
- understateExpress with restraint
- deemphasizeReduce perceived significance
- play downDiminish perceived significance
diminish · underplay · gloss over · whitewash · sugarcoat · tone down · water down · temper · moderate · soften
diplomatic
Tactful and sensitive
circumspect · cautious · careful · measured · guarded · restrained · understated · low-key · subtle · indirect
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- downplayingminimizing, downplay, trivializing, belittling, dismissing
- evasionevasion, avoiding, avoids, evade, dodging
- silencequiet, silent, mute, hush, stillness
- avoiding tacticsdodging, evading, sidestepping, skirting, deflecting
- indirectnesscircumlocution, euphemism, hedging, hint, hinting
soft-pedalingexaggerating
Overstating for effect
overstating · playing up · overemphasizing · amplifying · magnifying
soft-pedalingconfronting
Addressing directly
telling it like it is · calling out · hard-hitting · laying bare · exposing
soft-pedalingtrumpeting
Loud, brassy proclamation
touting · hammering home · pressing · flogging · plugging
pedal, pedals, pedalers, soft-pedal, pedaler, soft pedal, soft-pedaled