What does "de-emphasize" mean?

To remove or reduce the emphasis from something; to make something less important; to play down.

What is a synonym for "de-emphasize"?

Common synonyms include: abate, allay, alleviate, assuage, bagatellize, banalize.

Pronounced //diːˈɛmfəsaɪz//.

//diːˈɛmfəsaɪz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To remove or reduce the emphasis from something; to make something less important; to play down. transitive
2
reduce the emphasis wordnet

"De-emphasize how "Pleasurable" the massages are, you make it sound like we're running a strip club."

From de- + emphasize.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.