🗓️ Idiom: Make Light of Something (verb)
💬 Meaning
- To treat a serious issue as if it is not important.
- To joke or speak casually about something that should be taken more seriously.
🧠 Example Sentences
- He made light of the project delay, even though the team was under pressure.
- Don’t make light of her complaint — she’s been under a lot of stress.
- The manager made light of the mistake to keep the mood positive.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase comes from old English, where “light” meant something easy or without weight. To “make light of” a problem means to treat it as small or unimportant, even if it is serious.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
When the system crashed, the IT manager ________ it to calm everyone down.
Answer
made light of
2. Choose the correct answer:
If you “make light of something,” you:
a) Treat it as serious and urgent
b) Ignore it completely
c) Treat it as not very serious
Answer
c) Treat it as not very serious
3. Change the sentence using “make light of something”:
“He joked about the client’s complaint even though it was important.”
Answer
He made light of the client’s complaint even though it was important.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
📚 Learning Resources
👉 Idioms for Humour in the Workplace
👉 Business English Idioms List
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Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
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