as in criticism
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in minimizing
to reduce in apparent importance
she politely tries to soft-pedal her accomplishments when talking to less fortunate people
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for soft-pedaling
Noun
-
For an artist so focused on the future, criticism doesn’t slow him down.—
Eli Wizevich,
Smithsonian Magazine,
14 Apr. 2025 -
In both cases, the criticism is not completely superficial.—
Ellen Cushing,
The Atlantic,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Once stationary, deactivate all lights except the hazard flashers, engage the emergency brake, and release the brake pedal to ensure your tail lights remain unlit, minimizing the chance of other drivers colliding with your stationary vehicle.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Mar. 2025
-
These kinds of films are already built on minimizing pain, not just for our hero but for all the characters.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
14 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
Too often, boards respond by downplaying concerns, offering vague explanations, or shifting blame elsewhere.—
Committee of 200,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
-
Abandoning Ukraine and Europe and downplaying the Middle East to prioritize the Indo-Pacific is not a clever geopolitical chess move.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Carr has multiple probes in progress, and his investigation into CBS over the editing of an interview with Kamala Harris has drawn condemnations from both liberal and conservative advocacy groups that describe it as a threat to the Constitutional right to free speech.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
7 Apr. 2025
-
The politically explosive ruling drew condemnation from her right-wing allies in Europe and across the Atlantic.—
Caitlin Danaher,
CNN Money,
6 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Most importantly, the proposal provides that, when discovery items are turned over belatedly, judges can impose consequences that stop short of dismissing the whole case, if a lesser remedy can ensure fairness to the defendant.—
Jane Manning,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2025
-
So lawmakers aren't dismissing Golden Dome out of hand.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
This one is both meaner-spirited and clumsier, as Brooker grafts his prank call coming from inside the house onto a denunciation of one of the planet’s profoundest manmade evils: the health-care industry.—
Charles Bramesco,
Vulture,
10 Apr. 2025
-
The National Museum of African American History and Culture—which, until recently, was run by The New Yorker’s poetry editor, Kevin Young—comes in for particularly splenetic denunciation.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The commissioners held an executive session Monday, an hour before the district sent an email with the Tuesday censure agenda item.—
Nick Rosenberger,
Idaho Statesman,
1 Apr. 2025
-
Out of the privation, the challenge, and the censure of slavery and the unfulfilled promise of post-Reconstruction justice, Black musicians embraced experimentation and innovation, ingenuity and joy, and a multigenerational call and response speaking truth to power that endures to the present day.—
Elizabeth Alexander,
Time,
1 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Oilers fans booed the American national anthem, and one woman used a lull to shout an invective about Mr. Trump.—
John Branch,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2025
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That decision, highly unusual in Japan, earned her some support from politicians, but a tide of abuse and invective on social media from people dismissing her claims.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
17 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Soft-pedaling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/soft-pedaling. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
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