softener
Americannoun
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Chemistry.
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any admixture to a substance for promoting or increasing its softness, smoothness, or plasticity.
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a person or thing that softens.
noun
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a substance added to another substance to increase its softness, pliability, or plasticity
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a substance, such as a zeolite, for softening water
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of softener
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:
Its brands—including Downy fabric softener, Pampers diapers and Charmin toilet paper—are often the best-known products in their categories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
She’d never planned to do TV or film, but when an advertising executive approached her one night after she’d performed an ensemble role in “Gypsy,” she soon booked TV ads for fabric softener and diapers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024
To use vinegar as a fabric softener, pour half of a cup of distilled white vinegar into the detergent or fabric softener dispenser during the final rinse cycle.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
Laundry detergent, fabric softener, fabric shampoo and conditioners and other cleaning products from the brand produced between January 2021 and September 2022 were recalled, the U.S.
From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2022
Towel, medium rare, with a hint of fabric softener.
From "Rules" by Cynthia Lord
I’m using stool softeners and laxatives as well as walking and drinking water.
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2024
Ion exchange resin is the same technology found in many home water softeners.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2024
DLE technologies are comparable to common household water softeners, which remove metals from drinking water.
From Reuters ● Oct. 7, 2021
Based on HomeAdvisor’s national averages, whole house water softeners cost about $3,000, including installation.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2020
A ride of two hundred and odd miles in severe weather, is one of the best softeners of a hard bed that ingenuity can devise.
From Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens, Charles
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.
