Word Study
soft pedal
THESAURUS
soft pedal
allow for, baffle, choke, choke off, color, cushion, damp, dampen, deaden, deafen, diminish, dull, dumbfound, ease, extenuate, gag, gloss over, hush, hush-hush, ignore, lessen, make allowance for, mince, mitigate, muffle, mute, muzzle, palliate, play down, put to silence, quiet, quieten, shush, shut down on, silence, slur over, soften, squash, squelch, stifle, still, stop, strike dumb, subdue, throttle, tone down, varnish, whitewashFor further exploring for "soft pedal" in Webster Dictionary Online