Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To act (a role) subtly or with restraint.
- intransitive verb To present or deal with subtly or with restraint; play down.
- intransitive verb To act a role subtly or with restraint.
- intransitive verb Games To play a low card while holding a higher card in the same suit.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of underplaying, especially in whist.
- To play in an inferior manner.
- In whist, to play a low card while retaining a high one of the same suit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To play in a subordinate, or in an inferior manner; to underact a part.
- intransitive verb (Card Playing) To play a low card when holding a high one, in the hope of a future advantage.
- noun (Card Playing) The act of underplaying.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of underplaying.
- verb To play in a subordinate, or in an inferior manner; to
underact a part. - verb To play a low card when holding a high one, in the hope of a future advantage.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb act (a role) with great restraint
- verb play a card lower than (a held high card)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Hunt helps us to recognize a paradox that recent historians of book-collecting underplay, which is that the book-collectors 'obsessive acquisitiveness not only vexed their contemporaries but also beguiled them, as the undertone of affection in period commentaries hints.
"Wedded to Books': Bibliomania and the Romantic Essayists 2004
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And Dana Andrews, an underestimated actor who wasn’t fully appreciated because his style was to underplay, which is so difficult.
Not the Girl Next Door Charlotte Chandler 2008
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And Dana Andrews, an underestimated actor who wasn’t fully appreciated because his style was to underplay, which is so difficult.
Not the Girl Next Door Charlotte Chandler 2008
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And Dana Andrews, an underestimated actor who wasn’t fully appreciated because his style was to underplay, which is so difficult.
Not the Girl Next Door Charlotte Chandler 2008
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And Dana Andrews, an underestimated actor who wasn’t fully appreciated because his style was to underplay, which is so difficult.
Not the Girl Next Door Charlotte Chandler 2008
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There is also something antithetical to making Crispin Glover "underplay" his role.
DVD Verdict 2010
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However, you underplay the imaginative use of a significant, flexible asset at a time when the Royal Navy's reduced number of platforms is thinly spread in support of the UK's interests across the world.
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The question for all of us, especially parents of teenagers, to ask is this: Is the media's failure to acknowledge this tragic trinity due to its tendency to overlook or underplay the dangers of marijuana use?
Joseph A. Califano Jr.: Marijuana's Role In The Arizona Shooting Joseph A. Califano Jr. 2011
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The question for all of us, especially parents of teenagers, to ask is this: Is the media's failure to acknowledge this tragic trinity due to its tendency to overlook or underplay the dangers of marijuana use?
Joseph A. Califano Jr.: Marijuana's Role In The Arizona Shooting Joseph A. Califano Jr. 2011
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That is not to underplay the effort of other Mexicans that get involved in many ways, shapes or form of bettering the condition of others.
Chiapa de Corzo 2009
oroboros commented on the word underplay
"Plunder" (q.v.), in pig Latin.
May 17, 2008