The English We Speak: Dial down

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

Here's an expression we use to talk about reducing the intensity of something.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.
0:08.7	I'm Faye Faye.
0:09.7	Hey, everyone, I'm Phil and I am so happy.
0:13.7	Oh, how are you so bouncy at the start of the week?
0:17.8	Can you dial down the energy? I'm getting a little tired just listening to you.
0:22.0	Okay, okay, I'll dial it down a bit. And actually, that's what we should learn in this program.
0:28.4	What dial down means? Well, imagine you're looking at the controls of a machine. A dial can be something
0:36.4	that you turn to change the intensity of something. Dial is also
0:40.9	a verb, so if you dial something down, you reduce its intensity. Now, you told me to dial down the energy.
0:49.0	Obviously, there aren't actually many controls. It's just a metaphor. So we use it much more generally to talk about
0:55.4	reducing the intensity of something. Yes. If you want someone to make something simpler,
1:01.4	then you can ask them to dial down the complexity. If you want to resolve an awkward situation
1:07.4	at work, then you might ask people to dial down the tension.
1:12.0	OK, listen to some more people using the expression, dial down.
1:20.1	OK, kids, it's getting really noisy in here. It's time to dial down the volume.
1:25.6	Wow, this curry is so spicy.
1:28.4	Can you dial down on the chili, please?
1:31.4	Ugh, he's always so arrogant in meetings.
1:34.0	I really wish he'd dial it down a bit.
1:39.6	We've been looking at the expression dial down,
1:42.9	which means to make something less intense.
1:46.4	Informally, we can also use dial back to mean the same.
	...

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