de-emphasise vs alter

de-emphasise and alter both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
de-emphasise	No	No	Yes	No
alter	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, alter is a hypernym of de-emphasise; that is, alter is a word with a broader meaning than de-emphasise:

Other hypernyms of de-emphasise include change, modify.

de-emphasise (verb)	alter (verb)
reduce the emphasis	remove the ovaries of
	become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
	cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
	insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby
	make an alteration to