soft-pedal
1soft-pedal — soft pedals, soft pedalling, soft pedalled VERB If you soft pedal something, you deliberately reduce the amount of activity or pressure that you have been using to get something done or seen. [V n] He refused to soft pedal an investigation into… …
2soft-pedal — [sôft′ped΄ l, säft′ped΄ l] vt. soft pedaled or soft pedalled, soft pedaling or soft pedalling 1. to soften or dampen the tone of (a musical instrument) by use of a special pedal 2. Informal to make less emphatic, less obtrusive, less conspicuous …
3soft-pedal — past tense and past participle soft pedalled present participle soft pedalling BrE past tense and past participle soft pedaled present participle soft pedaling AmE v [T] informal to make something seem less important or less urgent than it really …
4soft pedal — noun count a PEDAL on a piano that the player presses with their foot to make the sound softer …
5soft pedal — n. a pedal used to soften or dampen the tone of a piano or any of certain other musical instruments …
6soft-pedal — soft′ ped′al v. aled, al•ing (esp. brit.) alled, al•ling. 1) mad to use the soft pedal of a piano 2) inf to attempt to make less obvious, important, or objectionable; downplay • Etymology: 1915–20 …
7soft-pedal — verb transitive to make something seem less important or less unpleasant than it really is …
8Soft pedal — The soft pedal is the pedal at the left under the keyboard of the grand piano The soft pedal (or una corda pedal) is one of the standard pedals on a piano, generally placed leftmost among the pedals. On a grand piano this pedal shifts the whole… …
9soft-pedal — /sawft ped l, soft /, v., soft pedaled, soft pedaling or (esp. Brit.) soft pedalled, soft pedalling. v.i. 1. to use the soft pedal. v.t. 2. to soften the sound of by using the soft pedal. 3. Informal. to tone or play down; make less strong, as an …
10soft-pedal — [c]/sɒft ˈpɛdl / (say soft pedl) verb (soft pedalled or, US, soft pedaled, soft pedalling or, US, soft pedaling) –verb (i) 1. to use the soft pedal. 2. Colloquial to make concessions or be conciliatory, as in criticism: *Eventually I ll ask him… …
