play up

• Verbe à particule utilisé pour indiquer le fait de mettre en valeur quelque chose ou (en anglais britannique) de causer des problèmes ou de mal fonctionner.

A phrasal verb used to indicate emphasizing something, or (in British English) causing trouble or not functioning properly.

indénombrable · transitif et intransitif · phrasal, séparable

1. Exaggerate or emphasizeinformalbritish

   To make something seem more important or serious than it really is.

   mettre en avant, exagérer

   • He played up his role in the project to impress the boss.
   • The media played up the minor incident as a major crisis.
   • She always plays up her achievements when talking to strangers.

   Synonymesaccentuateamplifyemphasizeexaggeratehighlightmagnifyoverdooveremphasizeoverstatestress

   Antonymesdownplayminimizeunderstate

2. Cause trouble or malfunctioninformalbritish

   To behave badly or cause problems, often used for machines or children.

   Faire des siennes

   • The car's engine started playing up again this morning.
   • The children were playing up during the entire trip.
   • My computer is playing up and keeps crashing.

   Synonymesact upbreak downfailfaltergo wrongmalfunctionmisbehave

   Antonymesbehavework

Verbe de baseplay