soft skills

British

plural noun

desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense, the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Colleges are graduating a surfeit of young people who lack hard or even soft skills.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 9, 2025

To develop these types of hard and soft skills, you don't necessarily have to get a new degree.

From Salon • Jan. 12, 2025

In a warehouse, students learn the basics first: safety practices, identifying tools and materials, driving forklifts, and construction mathematics, and soft skills, like active listening, working on a team and work ethics.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2024

“The soft skills are sometimes understated in cyber-security,” he says.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2024

“I don’t think so. You need to work on some of your soft skills before I send you off to MIT. You need to be around your peers. Now, come on.”

From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023