Water down

I used watered down or loose meanings of words. Like if I say "I ditched a ward for a month" or "I ditched her" or "she's a military brat" I mean them in the nicest way possible. Like if you say someone's a "military brat" that means 1 (or both) parents are in the military. If you "ditch" someone that sounds rude and if I say "I ditched them or I ditched a ward for a month" I mean I was MIA due to XYZ.