play up

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb UK, idiomatic To misbehave
• verb idiomatic To make or attempt to make something appear more important, likely or obvious; to showcase or highlight

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent
• verb ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior