gloss over

gloss over — 片語動詞

  • gloss overbase form
  • glosses over3rd person singular
  • glossing over-ing form
  • glossed overpast simple

1. to talk about something unpleasant or embarrassing only briefly and without deta

1.片語動詞及物B2
釋義

輕描淡寫；敷衍

刻意淡化不愉快的事

to talk about something unpleasant or embarrassing only briefly and without detail, so that it seems less important or serious than it really is

例句

The CEO glossed over the company's losses and focused only on future plans.

執行長輕描淡寫公司虧損的狀況，只著重討論未來的規劃。

gloss + over + noun phrase (company's losses)

Trang's report glossed over the safety problems at the factory.

Trang 的報告對工廠的安全問題一筆帶過。

同義詞
  • downplay

    more general — you can downplay something by words or by actions, while gloss over specifically avoids discussing it

  • whitewash

    stronger and more negative — implies a deliberate attempt to hide wrongdoing; gloss over can just mean avoid detail without active deceit

  • sugarcoat

    focuses on making something sound nicer by adding pleasant details, whereas gloss over simply passes over it quickly

  • skim over

    suggests haste or lack of time rather than deliberate avoidance; less critical in tone

反義詞
  • scrutinize

    examine in great detail — the opposite of avoiding details

  • elaborate on

    add more detail rather than skipping over the topic

文法句型

gloss + over + noun phrase

gloss + over + wh-clause

用法筆記

Frequently used in a critical tone — the speaker implies that someone is being dishonest or insufficiently thorough by avoiding an important issue. The object is usually something negative: a mistake, a problem, a failure, a controversy. The phrasal verb is normally inseparable (✗ 'glossed the problem over'), though separation sometimes occurs informally in British English.

常見錯誤

❌She glossed over her speech.
✅She glossed over the mistake in her speech.
💡The object must be the thing being avoided (the problem), not the main topic itself.
❌The teacher told the student to gloss over his essay.
✅The teacher told the student not to gloss over the weak points in his essay.
💡'Gloss over' is negative; it means to avoid proper attention, not to work quickly.