| English Dictionary |
SOFT-PEDAL (soft-pedalled, soft-pedalling)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Irregular inflected forms: soft-pedalled , soft-pedalling
, soft-pedalling Dictionary entry overview: What does soft-pedal mean?
• SOFT-PEDAL (verb)
The verb SOFT-PEDAL has 1 sense:
1. play down or obscure
Familiarity information: SOFT-PEDAL used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
| Conjugation: |
Present simple: I / you / we / they soft-pedal ... he / she / it soft-pedals
Past simple: soft-pedaled / soft-pedalled
Past participle: soft-pedaled / soft-pedalled
-ing form: soft-pedaling / soft-pedalling
... he / she / it soft-pedals Past simple: soft-pedaled
/ soft-pedalled Past participle: soft-pedaled
/ soft-pedalled -ing form: soft-pedaling
/ soft-pedalling Sense 1
Meaning:
Play down or obscure
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Context example:
His advisers soft-pedaled the president's blunder
Hypernyms (to "soft-pedal" is one way to...):
background; downplay; play down (understate the importance or quality of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
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