downplay
/ˈdaʊ̯nˌpleɪ̯/verb
downplay is spelled D-O-W-N-P-L-A-Y: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, downplay means “To de-emphasize; to present or portray as less important or consequential” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in downplay?
| Letters | 8: D-O-W-N-P-L-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,393rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is downplay?
Downplay appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,393rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce downplay?
- /ˈdaʊ̯nˌpleɪ̯/
Downplay has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-downplay.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of downplay
- downplays present, singular, he/she/it
- downplaying participle, present
- downplayed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does downplay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To de-emphasize; to present or portray as less important or consequential.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Downplay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to de-emphasize; to present or portray something as less important or consequent:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | minimiser |
| German | herunterspielen, verharmlosen, kleinreden, bagatellisieren |
| Portuguese | minimizar |
| Spanish | minimizar, quitar hierro, quitar importancia, menospreciar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does downplay come from?
Synthetic form of the phrase play down. By surface analysis, down- + play.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).