low-key

low-key

1. Modest and restrained, often intentionally to avoid being conspicuous, loud, wild, etc. It's just going to be a little, low-key gathering with friends, no big deal. I'm trying to keep news of my promotion low-key, so as not to upset some of my co-workers.
2. Not exhibiting much energy or enthusiasm; mellow, subdued, or melancholy. You seem pretty low-key today. Everything OK?
3. Describing something that is done or felt in a subtle way. I'm low-key failing this class and don't want anyone to know. I'm kind of low-key in love with him.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

low-key

mod. not obvious; not hyped. Let’s try to keep this low-key so as not to upset the family.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • high-key
  • don't feed the troll(s)
  • in an undertone
  • in check
  • DFTT
  • eavesdrop
  • eavesdrop on
  • eavesdrop on (someone or something)
  • a cry for help
  • much in evidence
References in periodicals archive
"The next step is to determine whether better memory for the low-key (public service announcement) translates into changing attitudes and behaviors," said Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which helped fund the study.
Among other uses, Trans Orbital hopes to turn those photos into a more low-key form of space tourism: a video game that simulates a space journey for moon- dreaming couch potatoes.
After several tumultuous days, which saw Venezuela's Marxist President Hugo Chavez ousted from power by a low-key military coup, the revolutionary Marxist once again firmly controls the world's fourth-largest oil producer.
This is simple, low-key writing, and the only finance lesson is when King and Clarkson discuss derivatives.
In making a highly enlightened contribution to the Santa Monica cityscape, Pugh + Scarpa's low-key, economical approach draws on the industrially-inspired traditions of Californian Modernism and its preoccupation with lightness, modular planning and prefabricated components.
While nearly 70% of South Koreans support the government's policies of seeking reconciliation with North Korea, 72% of them are critical of Seoul's ''low-key posture'' toward the North, according to an opinion survey released Wednesday.
With Quebec's three most important film festivals (the veteran World Film Festival, the funky upstart Festival of New Cinema and New Media, and the always surprising Festival du Cinema en Abitibi-Temiscamingue) come and gone, and a rather low-key presence of Quebec productions in all of these events, one has to wonder what happened to all the Quebecois films shot over the past year.
Only at the "last minute" did they decide to test and went to Florida copywriter Hershall Gordon Lewis who created a low-key #10 package--heavy editorial copy on the teaser and sales letter focused on the health conditions Weil's recommendations are designed to aid.
Subsequent to these incidents, the FBI developed and employed new techniques that included low-key negotiations coupled with a reduction in visible signs of a paramilitary and special weapons and tactics team presence.
Residents said the low-key ceremony reflected her personality.
Founded by longtime dance teacher and studio owner, Irma Ziegler (and her daughter Shari), Headliners aims to be a well-organized, relatively low-key adjudicated performance competition that identifies and rewards talented young dancers, first at regional and national competitions.
The limb project, part of The Cambodia Trust, was conceived in 1989 when Carey and two friends set up the Trust to help broker a peace process in Cambodia through low-key talks which would then be taken up at an international level.
In fact, the space is not planned for one focal activity, but as a place where people are likely to be engaged in casual exploration -- some low-key guided exploration, as well as self-directed activity and energy outlets such as rocking, walking or pacing.
Plant tours also are an excellent way to do a low-key selling job.
The function was a low-key affair as only close relatives and two Dubai-based MQM-P leaders Adil Siddiqui and Haider Abbas Rizvi were seen in a video tweeted by a spokesperson for Dr Sattar on Saturday.