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soft pedal
1noun
- Also called una corda pedal. a pedal, as on a piano, for reducing tonal volume.
- Informal. something that restrains or dampens:
to put a soft pedal on one's enthusiasm.
soft-pedal
2[ sawft-ped-l, soft- ]
verb (used without object)
- to use the soft pedal.
verb (used with object)
- to soften the sound of by using the soft pedal.
- Informal. to tone or play down; make less strong, as an idea or fact:
The dean soft-pedaled the reports of cheating.
soft-pedal
verb
- to mute the tone of (a piano) by depressing the soft pedal
- informal.to make (something, esp something unpleasant) less obvious by deliberately failing to emphasize or allude to it
noun
- a foot-operated lever on a piano, the left one of two, that either moves the whole action closer to the strings so that the hammers strike with less force or causes fewer of the strings to sound Compare sustaining pedal piano 1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of soft pedal1
Origin of soft pedal2
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Idioms and Phrases
Something that de-emphasizes, restrains, or plays down, as in The mayor put a soft pedal on this potentially explosive situation . This expression alludes to the una corda or soft pedal of the piano, which reduces the volume of the sound. It gave rise to the verb soft-pedal , meaning both “reduce the volume of” or “make less emphatic, downplay.” [Early 1900s]Discover More
Example Sentences
And when the AHA is reintroduced in parliament, as it inevitably will be, he can soft-pedal.
It would do nothing about climate change and would embrace but soft-pedal and rebrand social conservatism.
Even when the crowd turned loud and nasty on certain foreign-policy points, Paul refused to soft-pedal his anti-interventionism.
She muffled the notes with the soft pedal and broke off frequently.
"Do them good," her friend said viciously, but with the soft pedal down for once.
Grandma—she'd put down her foot—soft pedal—she's done that all my life.
If I thought it would please you I'd cut out the brass band effects and put some soft pedal polish on my manners.
On Dec. 20,1913, we find the "Outlook" "putting the soft pedal" on the public indignation.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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