White House officials insist that they are not trying to play down the drug epidemic.

Many of his supporters tried to play down the talk.

Senior officials tried to play down the shift in strategy.

Rice, who said he would not approach Jackson about the issue, tried to play down their differences.

He was only trying to play down the situation for her benefit.

Publicly, administration officials tried to play down the emotions today.

Sometimes Government officials are trying to play down a particular event.

I'm not trying to play it down or anything of the sort.

That has left Republican officials trying to play down the survey's results.

The teams are trying to play down the importance of the game.