Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

soft-pedal

 verb
     
soft-pedal past tense and past participle soft-pedalled, present participle soft-pedalling British English, past tense and past participle soft-pedaled, present participle soft-pedaling American English [transitive]
informal to make something seem less important or less urgent than it really is
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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