"play down" meaning in English

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "antonym(s) of “make to seem less important”",
      "word": "play up"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play down (third-person singular simple present plays down, present participle playing down, simple past and past participle played down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"down\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "downplay"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The essay attempts to play down the role slavery had in the Civil War.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The senator played down the threat of a recession.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "During the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, Miguel played down his immigrant status by removing Chicano patois from his speech and adopting the nickname \"Mike.\"",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 October, Dan Harvey, “HS2 costs rise as schedule slips”, in Modern Railways, page 8:",
          "text": "Reports that the project is in trouble have been circulating for many months and have been played down by officials.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_down-en-verb-~EBZGCPs",
      "links": [
        [
          "important",
          "important"
        ],
        [
          "likely",
          "likely"
        ],
        [
          "obvious",
          "obvious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "make to seem less important",
          "word": "de-emphasize"
        },
        {
          "sense": "make to seem less important",
          "word": "downplay"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c0/En-au-play_down.ogg/En-au-play_down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/En-au-play_down.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play down"
}

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "antonym(s) of “make to seem less important”",
      "word": "play up"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "downplay"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play down (third-person singular simple present plays down, present participle playing down, simple past and past participle played down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs formed with \"down\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The essay attempts to play down the role slavery had in the Civil War.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The senator played down the threat of a recession.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "During the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, Miguel played down his immigrant status by removing Chicano patois from his speech and adopting the nickname \"Mike.\"",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 October, Dan Harvey, “HS2 costs rise as schedule slips”, in Modern Railways, page 8:",
          "text": "Reports that the project is in trouble have been circulating for many months and have been played down by officials.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "important",
          "important"
        ],
        [
          "likely",
          "likely"
        ],
        [
          "obvious",
          "obvious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To make or attempt to make something seem less important, likely, or obvious."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c0/En-au-play_down.ogg/En-au-play_down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/En-au-play_down.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "make to seem less important",
      "word": "de-emphasize"
    },
    {
      "sense": "make to seem less important",
      "word": "downplay"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play down"
}