make light of

Idioms and Phrases

Also, make little of . Treat as unimportant, as in He made light of his allergies , or She made little of the fact that she'd won . The first term, which uses light in the sense of “trivial,” was first recorded in William Tyndale's 1526 Bible translation (Matthew 22:5), in the parable of the wedding feast, where the invited guests reject the king's invitation: “They made light of it and went their ways.” The variant dates from the early 1800s. For an antonym, see make much of .

Example Sentences

As Thursday's outage unfolded, Bluesky staff tried to make light of the situation, with one developer joking: “Btw — Today will get interesting! If the site goes down, maybe grab a soda, pet the kitty. We’ll hit it with a wrench as fast as we can.”

From BBC

Sitting at her kitchen table in her one-bedroom apartment with boxing equipment piled up in the background and wearing heart-shaped glasses, Hardy attempts to make light of her situation.

From BBC

After the Free Beacon report was published, a former Republican congressman took to X to make light of the story.

From Los Angeles Times

The duo even found time to make light of the controversy surrounding The Bear being submitted in the comedy categories as opposed to drama, because it's not very overtly funny.

From BBC

Whether she’s bringing her vibrant personality to a stage or sharing her libertarian perspectives on “Gutfeld!” via Fox News, one can always count on her to make light of heavy topics with a witty and unapologetic approach.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• curtail
• decrease
• diminish
• downplay
• lessen
• play down
• reduce
• trivialize
• underestimate