THESAURUS
soft pedal
allow for, baffle, choke, choke off, color, cushion, damp, dampen, deaden, deafen, diminish, dull, dumbfound, ease, extenuate, gag, gloss over, hush, hush-hush, ignore, lessen, make allowance for, mince, mitigate, muffle, mute, muzzle, palliate, play down, put to silence, quiet, quieten, shush, shut down on, silence, slur over, soften, squash, squelch, stifle, still, stop, strike dumb, subdue, throttle, tone down, varnish, whitewash
