laugh off

laugh off (third-person singular simple present laughs off, present participle laughing off, simple past and past participle laughed off)

1. (transitive) To respond to (a negative situation) lightheartedly, as though it were a joke.

   Synonym: laugh away

   Coordinate term: play off

   • 2020 February 14, Franz Lidz, “Here Lies the Skull of Pliny the Elder, Maybe”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 July 2021:

     […] The landowner, Gennaro Matrone, had a hunch that these were the remains of Pliny the Elder (the Younger wrote of his uncle’s body lying as if asleep on the day after the eruption), but his theory was laughed off in the press.

   • 2026 February 6, Erica L. Green, Isabella Kwai, “Trump Deletes Racist Video Portraying the Obamas as Apes”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 February 2026:

     Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on official government websites and social media accounts […] . The White House usually responds to criticism about such things by laughing it off.