Synonyms of dumb down

dumb down

verb

as in to simplify

Synonyms & Similar Words

• simplify
• strip (down)
• oversimplify
• streamline
• refine
• purify
• prune
• trim

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• complex
• complicate
• perplex
• elaborate
• complexify
• sophisticate

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of dumb down

Why dumb down what was once a sophisticated and nuanced show? —Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 9 Mar. 2025

The president-elect tends to avoid details—during his first term, aides learned to dumb down their presentations with bullet points. —Danielle Chemtob, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024

Where there other ideas about how to dumb down Sage? —Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 June 2024

Whoever has decided to dumb down America has done a really good job. —Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Business Column: Red-state efforts to dumb down their universities will provoke a brain drain May 2, 2023 GOP legislators in Wisconsin held hostage $800 million in funding for the state university and blocked all staff pay raises unless the university cut back DEI programs. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024

But Jason didn’t dumb down any of his writing. —New York Times, 15 Aug. 2022

His knack for skewering Broadway’s smash hits and for commenting on its craven tendencies to dumb down for and rip off its customers is unparalleled. —David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022

Angela Merkel, chancellor when the pandemic started, holds a doctorate in quantum chemistry and refused to dumb down science while addressing the public. —Lenora Chu, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Feb. 2022