A: A meteor is traveling towards Earth right now, but the news says it won't hit us. B: I know....
A: A meteor is traveling towards Earth right now, but the news says it won't hit us. B: I know. I don't know why the White House downplayed the significance of the meteor. A: Perhaps to prevent people from panicking?
Companies making artificial sweeteners gloss over in their ads the fact that they have no nutritional value.
The management keep ignoring the elephant in the room and eventually the company starts losing money.
The abortion issue in this country is the elephant in the room, but no one in Washington wants to discuss it.
Dad: I know I downplayed the importance of education before, but that's because I didn't want to put too much pressure on you. If you don't study hard you won't get anywhere with your life.
Son: Thank you, dad. From now on I will study the hardest I can and I won't let you down.
The company glossed over its recent financial instability at a press conference.
A: David got cancer. B: Really? He just mentioned casually that he's sick. I didn't know it's cancer.
My ex-girlfriend kept calling me names, but I just laughed it off.
The casualty lists understate the extent of the disaster.
Don't brush the issue away and say we've never had a problem with this vendor. Don't give me fluffy answers.
Some governments tend to gloss over important global issues because they are too complicated.
If you gloss over a mistake, an issue or an embarrassing situation, you make it seem less important by ignoring it or by handling it very quickly.
[1] to downplay[2] ignore the elephant in the room[3] downplay[4] gloss over[5] mention something casually or briefly[6] laugh something off[7] understate[8] brush something away
This is a chain of problems. Burning oil leads to increase in carbon dioxide, which leads to the reenhouse effect, which leads to melting of glaciers, which leads to rising sea levels.
