tone down

Related to tone down: tune down, nowhere to be found, pick up the slack, short of, hard done by

tone down

To make something less intense, ostentatious, or harsh. A noun or pronoun can be used between "tone" and "down." You should really tone down the angry rhetoric in the article, or people won't take it seriously. I get that you're going for a unique look, but your outfit clashes really badly. Try toning it down a bit.
See also: down, tone
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tone something down

to cause something to have less of an impact on the senses of sight or sound; to lessen the impact of something prepared for public performance or consumption. This is rather shocking. You had better tone it down a bit. Tone down this paragraph.
See also: down, tone
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

tone down

Make less vivid, harsh, or violent; moderate. For example, That's a little too much rouge; I'd tone it down a bit, or Do you think I should tone down this letter of complaint? This idiom uses tone in the sense of "adjust the tone or quality of something," as does the antonym, tone up, meaning "brighten or strengthen." For example, These curtains will tone up the whole room, or This exercise is said to tone up the triceps. [Mid-1800s]
See also: down, tone
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

tone down

v.
To make something less vivid, harsh, or violent; moderate something: We toned down our comedy routine so as not to offend our audience. The decorator suggested a beige material to tone the room down.
See also: down, tone
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • ask down
  • bear down
  • chow down
  • chow something down
  • clunk
  • clunk down
  • brush down
  • button down
  • bolt down
  • call down
References in periodicals archive
Lisa is this priss who tries to get Damon to tone down his music because he's really wild." Paula plays Damon's girlfriend, a twist between J-Lo and Lil' Kim.
Paul Garces. (Spotlight)
("Osama," I can practically hear this vexed expert gently advising his client during witness prep, "you need to tone down that `death to America' stuff.
Stack And Sway: The New Science of Jury Consulting. (Trial by Jury Consultant)
Maybe the barrel fermentation helped tone down the oak.
2000 California chardonnay. (Winenotes)
The court noted that a reporter might tone down a critical article if she feared that jail officials might terminate or restrict her future access.
U.S. district court media access. (Free Speech, Expression, Association)
In earlier studies, VIP had been shown to tone down some Th1 action.
Peptide puts mouse arthritis out of joint
PM Hariri has asked Sfeir's Muslim critics to tone down their attacks against the Maronite Patriarch to spare the country another Christian-Muslim strife).
LEBANON - March 27 - Sfeir's Triumphant Return
A BARBIE fan was told by police to tone down a window display after a complaint that some of the dolls were "inappropriately dressed".
Barbie in indecency probe
Footballers have been told to tone down their language after a protest by the owners of their ground - a Mormon church.
Post Script
Reason: Now that you've been elected, do you find you have to tone down your style?
"The body" politic
Here, although Henderson offers a variety of practical explanations for specific developments, I feel that his determination to tone down earlier generalizations and to draw the foundations of Florentine charity back to the buon comune of Remigio de' Girolami, made him reluctant, despite the results his study yielded, to explore the possibility of a basic change in Florentine attitudes in the late Trecento, from celebration toward penance, from ad hoc civic charity to coordinated professional philanthropy.
Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Florence
If too much fluid were to enter a cylinder, the sensors would detect the problem and warn the computer by sending an electronic signal through the dino's wires, or "nerves." The computer would then send back instructions to slow the fluid flow and tone down the pressure.
The science behind the robotic dinosaurs of Jurassic Park The Ride
Knox, writing in the May/June 1991 issue of Buzzworm, warns environmentalists to not allow their message to be diluted by the animal rights viewpoint, "lest the ever-elusive big picture doesn't get miniaturized into portraits of battered puppy dogs." In the April/May 1993 issue of Garbage, Bill Breen does little to tone down the rhetoric.
Testing for toxins: environmental and humane groups seek alternatives to animal tests
LONDON -- Global stocks pushed higher on Thursday following signals from the White House that US President Donald Trump may tone down his tariff plans.
Stocks up as markets steel themselves for tariff decision
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Friday responded to the statement of Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo asking the media to 'tone down' reports on extrajudicial killings in the country.
NUJP to Tourism chief: Ask Duterte to stop killings
West is said to have even encouraged his girlfriend to tone down her make-up to be more like the fashionable royal.
Royal Baby: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Send Prince George Mini Hoodies and Hip-Hop Jeans