as in to simplify
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Recent Examples of dumb down
Why dumb down what was once a sophisticated and nuanced show?
—
Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2025
Build authentic LinkedIn content: skip the AI shortcuts Don't let AI dumb down your message.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025
Why dumb down what was once a sophisticated and nuanced show?
—Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2025
The president-elect tends to avoid details—during his first term, aides learned to dumb down their presentations with bullet points.
—Danielle Chemtob, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Where there other ideas about how to dumb down Sage?
—Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 June 2024
Business Column: Red-state efforts to dumb down their universities will provoke a brain drain
May 2, 2023
GOP legislators in Wisconsin held hostage $800 million in funding for the state university and blocked all staff pay raises unless the university cut back DEI programs.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024
But Jason didn’t dumb down any of his writing.
—New York Times, 15 Aug. 2022
His knack for skewering Broadway’s smash hits and for commenting on its craven tendencies to dumb down for and rip off its customers is unparalleled.
—David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022
Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2025
Build authentic LinkedIn content: skip the AI shortcuts Don't let AI dumb down your message.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025
Why dumb down what was once a sophisticated and nuanced show?
—Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2025
The president-elect tends to avoid details—during his first term, aides learned to dumb down their presentations with bullet points.
—Danielle Chemtob, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Where there other ideas about how to dumb down Sage?
—Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 June 2024
Business Column: Red-state efforts to dumb down their universities will provoke a brain drain
May 2, 2023
GOP legislators in Wisconsin held hostage $800 million in funding for the state university and blocked all staff pay raises unless the university cut back DEI programs.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024
But Jason didn’t dumb down any of his writing.
—New York Times, 15 Aug. 2022
His knack for skewering Broadway’s smash hits and for commenting on its craven tendencies to dumb down for and rip off its customers is unparalleled.
—David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dumb down
Verb
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Prior advancements all came with some sort of asterisk, though; for example, the derivations involved only worked on short timescales, in a vacuum or under other simplifying conditions.—
Jack Murtagh,
Scientific American,
14 Apr. 2025
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The federal Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is trying to streamline federal agencies by eliminating redundancies, modernizing technology, and simplifying processes so government better serves taxpayers.—
Adam A. Millsap,
Forbes.com,
11 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Such values are easy to oversimplify in our own personal narratives as well as in those of prominent figures ranging from Oprah Winfrey to JD Vance.—
Jeff Hobbs,
Time,
10 Apr. 2025
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This complex nexus has been oversimplified here into the universalized concept of vanity.—
Christian Lewis,
Variety,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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To meet the growing demand for nurses, Pennsylvania hospitals are partnering with colleges and universities to expand clinical training capacity, streamline pathways into nursing and develop innovative education models such as hybrid and accelerated programs.—
Kymberlee Montgomery,
The Conversation,
14 Apr. 2025
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From our review: In some ways, the movie suffers from an understandable impulse to streamline.—
The New York Times,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dumb down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dumb%20down. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
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