make light of
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To treat something as less serious or important than it is
Literally: to make light of something
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Afterwards, having made desperately light of the gaffe, I defensively hissed to Jack: ' Well, it's not pronounced Botha is it?
My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “make light of” mean?
To treat something as less serious or important than it is Literally: to make light of something
Is “make light of” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“khinh thường” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.