Synonyms for underplay
Most common
All synonyms
Verb
1. Downplay — to make something seem less important than it really is
downplay, understate, trivialize, trivialise UK, belittle, de-emphasize, deemphasise UK, make nothing of, make little of, play down, minimize, minimise UK, deprecate, underestimate, disparage, banalize, banalise UK
Other
Definitions
- v. 1
To make something seem less important than it really is.
Forms
- Past participle
- underplayed
e.g. underplayed → downplayed, understated, trivialized, belittled…
Example sentences
- downplay If you try to downplay this, I'm going to walk away.
- belittle Why do you have to belittle people all the time?
- understate Brits tend to understate things.
- trivialize While I don't want to trivialize your concerns, is all of this really necessary?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| underplay | rising | |
| downplay | rising | |
| belittle | steady | |
| understate | falling | |
| trivialize | rising | |
| underact | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 8 letters
- minimize3, minimise, downplay2, belittle3, banalize, banalise, underact
- 9 letters
- disparage3, deprecate3
- 10 letters
- understate3, trivialize4, trivialise
- 11 letters
- deemphasise
- 13 letters
- underestimate5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (minimize3 = 3 syllables).