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Terr3 Posted 19 years ago
Vocabulary

downplay

Hi!
what's the difference between 'downplay' and 'underestimate'?? I don't get it even I was looking at the dictionary.

"Don't downplay my terror of going back to that chair" <- rephase this please?

Thanks in advance- Terr
  

Top answer

Underestimating often comes before you actually do something. I underestimated how long it would take for this cake to fully bake. ) I underestimated how upset she would be.

  • Underestimating often comes before you actually do something.
  • I underestimated how long it would take for this cake to fully bake.
  • ) I underestimated how upset she would be.
  • ) Downplay means to minimze its importance.
  • For example: Look, I'm downplaying how scary the situation was, but don't underestimate how afraid I was.
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3 Answers
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Underestimating often comes before you actually do something.

I underestimated how long it would take for this cake to fully bake. (I thought it would take less time than it ended up taking.)

I underestimated how upset she would be. (I thought she'd be a little upset, but she was very upset.)

Downplay means to minimze its importance.

For example: Look, I
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Hi Grammar Geek!

It somewhat made an clearer picture now, 'underestimate' is pretty much a guess to the matter isnt that important(I knew this). "Downplay", however, is the action to downgrade the importance of the matter. Thanks! -Terr
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Hi again Terr,

No, "underestimate" is NOT related to whether it's important. I just means that you guessed, and you guess was too LOW. There is another term, "overestimate," which means you guess was too HIGH. You can overestimate or underestimate extremely important matters as well as trivial ones.

I underestimated the number of poeple who would show up and I don't have enough f

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