Antonyms of verb play_up

1 of 2 senses of play up

Sense 1
foreground, highlight, spotlight, play up -- (move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics")
       Antonym of play down (Sense 1)
      => background, play down, downplay -- (understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry")

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb play_up

2 senses of play up

Sense 1
foreground, highlight, spotlight, play up -- (move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics")
       => bring out, set off -- (direct attention to, as if by means of contrast; "This dress accentuates your nice figure!"; "I set off these words by brackets")

Sense 2
cozy up, cotton up, shine up, play up, sidle up, suck up -- (ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior; "She is playing up to the chairman")
       => ingratiate -- (gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts)