softness
Americannoun
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softnesses
plural
noun
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the quality or an instance of being soft
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metallurgy the tendency of a metal to distort easily See brittleness toughness
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Vocabulary lists containing softness
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.
See Examples For:
In addition to the headline figure, there was softness everywhere in the report.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Chelsea have previously suffered from indiscipline, a perceived softness defending set-pieces and, perhaps most importantly, a lack of leadership and dressing-room culture.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Their crunch interrupts the softness of the turkey, cheese and sauces; their salt seasons the sandwich; and their pucker sharpens the lemon mayo and smoky-sweet romesco.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Colored-pencil illustrations evoke a faded softness, while comic-style panels zoom in, frame by frame, as different actions unfold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Close to dawn the rain stopped and there was a softness after the rain, almost a warmth, and that brought the mosquitoes back for one more run.
From "The River" by Gary Paulsen
His touch was special, even in introductions and final flourishes; he built waves within his playing, revealing softnesses in his sound even while working intensely.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2013
The authors have not entirely evaded its treacherous softnesses.
From Time Magazine Archive
You charge my letter with a thousand faults, it is short, it is cold, and wants those usual softnesses that gave them all their welcome, and their graces.
From Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn
She may have lacked the bearing and carriage of a great lady, but what stateliness of manner can rival the pretty softnesses of a gentle girl wholly in love.
From The Span o' Life A Tale of Louisbourg & Quebec by Jean Newton McIlwraith
What Jefferson said of Madison was true of the Virginia orators in general,—“soothing always the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softnesses of expression.”
From Thomas Jefferson by Henry Childs Merwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
