downplaying
軽視する
解説 Definition
downplaying は downplay（軽く扱う、重要性を小さく見せる）の現在分詞・動名詞です。問題、成果、危険性などを実際より重要でないように言う場合に使います。
Presenting a problem, risk, achievement, or other matter as less important, serious, or impressive than it really is. This is the present participle or gerund of downplay and may describe either an ongoing action or the act itself.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
原形 downplay「重要性を低く見せる」に -ing を付けた形で、play の y はそのまま残します。「事実を下向きに演出する」と構造で捉え、downplaying the risk、delay、success のまとまりで覚えましょう。単なる ignore と違い、存在は認めつつ実際より軽く見せることが中心です。
Build the meaning from down plus play: to downplay something is to “play” its importance downward in how you present it. The -ing form is regular, and the y remains unchanged: downplay becomes downplaying. Picture a manager acknowledging a project delay but describing it as a minor inconvenience; the manager is downplaying the delay. Useful combinations include downplaying the risk, downplaying the problem, and downplaying an achievement. Unlike ignoring something, downplaying usually means mentioning or recognizing it while making it seem less serious or significant than it is.
例文
The manager is downplaying the delay in the project.
マネージャーはプロジェクトの遅れを軽視しています。
They were downplaying the risk during the meeting.
彼らは会議中、そのリスクを軽く扱っていました。
By downplaying the results, he made the success seem ordinary.
彼は結果を控えめに扱うことで、その成功を平凡なものに見せました。
downplaying の類義語・関連語
派生語
紛らわしい語
downplaying の語源・成り立ち Etymology
downplayはdown（下へ、古英語dūn）とplay（演じる、古英語plegan）の複合語。「控えめに演じる＝重要性を低く見せる」が原義。1960年代アメリカ英語で広まった比較的新しい語。関連語：downgrade, underplay。
Downplaying is the -ing form of the compound verb downplay, built from down and play. The combination developed the figurative sense of representing something at a lower level of importance, seriousness, or value. Downplay is a relatively modern English formation that became common in twentieth-century American usage. The suffix -ing marks the present participle or gerund. Its formation is regular: the final y of play remains before -ing.
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