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
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Focus on professional factors rather than personal criticisms.—
Caroline Castrillon,
Forbes,
10 Mar. 2025 -
Prominent pro-Israel voices, as well as critics of Israel, defended the movie — or at least called on their allies to tone down the criticism.—
Ben Sales,
Sun Sentinel,
10 Mar. 2025
Verb
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This approach ensures a steady cash flow by minimizing overdue payments and reduces the risk of bad debt through proactive monitoring and segmentation.—
Ashish Srimal,
Forbes,
27 Dec. 2024
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These plans ensure that if a breach occurs, the response is swift, organized and transparent, minimizing damage and protecting customer data.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes,
26 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
Modi and many of his BJP allies have spent years demonizing cow-killers while at the same time downplaying lynching reports.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
2 Jan. 2025
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Another option— downplaying the captivity— wasn’t viable in a pre-cable era when the most trusted man in America, Walter Cronkite, reminded viewers every night on the CBS Evening News exactly how many days the hostages had been held.—
Jonathan Alter,
TIME,
29 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Thailand deported more than 100 of them to China in 2015, drawing condemnation from the international community.—
Michael Sullivan,
NPR,
27 Feb. 2025
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The posts quickly drew condemnation from many users on Truth Social and Instagram, even from people who identified themselves as Republicans.—
Ben Goggin,
NBC News,
26 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The company stuck to its core DVD rental model while dismissing opportunities to innovate on the periphery.—
ByMargie Warrell,
Forbes,
6 Jan. 2025
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Top Stories Just before Christmas, Biden egregiously commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 death row inmates, dismissing years of careful work by prosecutors, judges, and juries.—
The Editors,
National Review,
6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Their desire for freedom was at the same time a denunciation of serfdom.—
Michael Bruening,
The Conversation,
25 Feb. 2025
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The denunciation of companies buying back stock has even worked itself into tax policy, as there is now a 1% excise tax applied to the value of stock repurchased by a corporation.—
Richard Mansouri,
Forbes,
14 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In a 224 to 198 vote, the House approved a censure resolution against Green, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in favor of the move.—
Caitlin Yilek,
CBS News,
6 Mar. 2025
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In the end, however, Johnson decided to go with Newhouse’s censure resolution.—
Mychael Schnell,
The Hill,
5 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Such invective, coming from a saboteur with firsthand experience of institutional prudishness, put DeGenevieve in a paradoxical position: that of a professor who, because she was tenured, had the luxury of deriding her own ivory tower.—
Jeremy Lybarger,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2025
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Yet some of us in the audience, disgusted by the persistence of Nazism and anti-immigrant invective in the present, may well appreciate the force of McQueen’s rhetoric.—
Justin Chang,
The New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Soft-pedaling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/soft-pedaling. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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