soft-ped·al/ˌ· ˈ··/ v [l,T] -lled, -llingBrE 【英】, -led, -lingAmE 【美】 informal to make something seem less important and spend less time trying to achieve it 【非正式】 使〔某事〕显得较不重要，淡化; 花较少时间处理: The government has decided to soft-pedal on welfare reform for a while. 政府决定暂时放慢福利制度改革的步伐。