soft

American  

[sawft, soft] / sɔft, sɒft /

adjective

• softer,
  comparative
• softest
  superlative

1. yielding readily to touch or pressure; easily penetrated, divided, or changed in shape; not hard or stiff.

   a soft pillow.

   Synonyms:

   malleable, plastic, pliable

2. relatively deficient in hardness, as metal or wood.

3. smooth and agreeable to the touch; not rough or coarse.

   a soft fabric;

   soft skin.

4. producing agreeable sensations; pleasant or comfortable.

   soft slumber.

5. low or subdued in sound; gentle and melodious.

   soft music;

   a soft voice.

   Synonyms:

   sweet, dulcet, mellifluous

6. not harsh or unpleasant to the eye; not glaring.

   soft light;

   a soft color.

7. not hard or sharp.

   soft outlines.

8. gentle or mild.

   soft breezes.

9. genial or balmy, as climate or air.

10. gentle, mild, warm-hearted, or compassionate.

    a soft, grandmotherly woman.

    Synonyms:

    sympathetic, tender

11. smooth, soothing, or ingratiating.

    soft words.

12. not harsh or severe, as a penalty or demand.

13. responsive or sympathetic to the feelings, emotions, needs, etc., of others; tender-hearted.

14. sentimental or flowery, as language.

    soft, meaningless talk.

15. not strong or robust; delicate; incapable of great endurance or exertion.

    He was too soft for the Marines.

    Synonyms:

    feeble, weak

16. Informal. easy; involving little effort; not difficult, laborious, trying, or severe.

    a soft job.

17. Informal. easily influenced or swayed; easily imposed upon; impressionable.

    Synonyms:

    submissive, irresolute, compliant

18. lenient, permissive, or conciliatory, especially regarding something that is conceived of as dangerous or threatening.

    to be soft on Communism.

19. (of water) relatively free from mineral salts that interfere with the action of soap.

20. (of paper money or a monetary system) not supported by sufficient gold reserves or not easily convertible into a foreign currency.

21. (of a market, market condition, or prices) declining in value, volume, profitability, etc.; weak.

    a soft tourist season.

22. (of money) plentiful or available at low interest rates or on easy terms.

    a soft loan.

23. soft-core.

24. Metallurgy.

    1. (of a metal) easily magnetized and demagnetized.

    2. (of solder) fusing readily.

    3. (of a metal or alloy) fully annealed, so as to provide minimum mechanical hardness.

25. Photography.

    1. (of a photographic image) having delicate gradations of tone.

    2. (of a focus) lacking in sharpness.

    3. (of a lens) unable to be focused sharply.

26. Phonetics.

    1. (of consonants) lenis, especially lenis and voiced.

    2. (of c andg ) pronounced as in cent and gem.

    3. (of consonants in Slavic languages) palatalized.

27. Military. (of a missile-launching base) aboveground and relatively unprotected from enemy attack.

28. Aerospace. (of a landing of a space vehicle) gentle; not harmful to the vehicle or its contents.

    a soft landing on the moon.

29. Physics. (of a beam of particles orelectromagnetic radiation ) having relatively low energy.

    soft x-rays.

30. (of a delegate, voter, etc.) not committed to any one candidate.

31. Informal. foolish or stupid.

    soft in the head.

32. (of a detergent) readily biodegradable.

33. Baseball. lacking power or speed.

    a soft infield hit; a soft breaking pitch.

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noun

1. something that is soft or yielding; the soft part.

2. softness.

adverb

1. in a soft manner.

interjection

Archaic.

1. be quiet! hush!

2. not so fast! stop!

idioms

1. be soft on someone, to be amorously inclined toward a person; have an affection for.

   He's been soft on her for years.

soft British  

/ sɒft /

adjective

1. easy to dent, work, or cut without shattering; malleable

2. not hard; giving little or no resistance to pressure or weight

3. fine, light, smooth, or fluffy to the touch

4. gentle; tranquil

5. (of music, sounds, etc) low and pleasing

6. (of light, colour, etc) not excessively bright or harsh

7. (of a breeze, climate, etc) temperate, mild, or pleasant

8. dialect drizzly or rainy

   a soft day

   the weather has turned soft

9. slightly blurred; not sharply outlined

   soft focus

10. (of a diet) consisting of easily digestible foods

11. kind or lenient, often excessively so

12. easy to influence or impose upon

13. prepared to compromise; not doctrinaire

    the soft left

14. informal feeble or silly; simple (often in the phrase soft in the head )

15. unable to endure hardship, esp through too much pampering

16. physically out of condition; flabby

    soft muscles

17. loving; tender

    soft words

18. informal requiring little exertion; easy

    a soft job

19. chem (of water) relatively free of mineral salts and therefore easily able to make soap lather

20. (of a drug such as cannabis) nonaddictive or only mildly addictive Compare hard

21. (of news coverage) concentrating on trivial stories or those with human interest

22. phonetics

    1. an older word for lenis

    2. (not in technical usage) denoting the consonants c and g in English when they are pronounced as palatal or alveolar fricatives or affricates (s, / dʒ /, / ʃ /, / ð /, / tʃ /) before e and i, rather than as velar stops (k, g)

    3. (in the Slavonic languages) palatalized before a front vowel or a special character ( soft sign ) written as

23. 1. unprotected against attack

       a soft target

    2. military unarmoured, esp as applied to a truck by comparison with a tank

24. finance (of prices, a market, etc) unstable and tending to decline

25. (of a currency) in relatively little demand, esp because of a weak balance of payments situation

26. (of radiation, such as X-rays and ultraviolet radiation) having low energy and not capable of deep penetration of materials

27. physics (of valves or tubes) only partially evacuated

28. related to the performance of non-specific, undefinable tasks

    soft skills such as customer services and office support

29. 1. gentle, sympathetic, or lenient towards

    2. feeling affection or infatuation for

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adverb

1. in a soft manner

   to speak soft

noun

1. a soft object, part, or piece

2. informal See softie

interjection

1. quiet!

2. wait!

soft More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing soft

• hard (soft) sell

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• softness
  noun
• oversoft
  adjective
• supersoft
  adjective
• ultrasoft
  adjective
• unsoft
  adjective
• softly
  adverb
• unsoftly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• softer
  comparative
• softest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of soft

First recorded before 1000; Middle English softe “yielding, gentle, mild,” Old English sōfte “agreeable, comfortable”; cognate with German sanft

Explanation

Soft things are fluffy or yielding to the touch. A kitten's fur and your favorite fleece pajama pants are soft. So is spreadable cheese or the spongy ground of a wet field. A soft voice is gentle, and a soft light or color is subdued or muted. A table with soft edges is rounded instead of sharp-cornered. Soft rain is mild. No matter how the adjective soft is used, it's always the opposite of words like hard, loud, bright or stubborn. It comes from a Germanic root that means "level, even, smooth, or gentle."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

soft softer softest

Once solidified, it becomes a soft, elastic material with a texture comparable to that of a conventional balloon.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

A father has been reprimanded by police after leaving his son on Japan's highest mountain for several hours with just a soft drink and snack, local media report.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

"Crinoid fossils number in the millions, and this is only the second time soft tissues have ever been found."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

Late night, I like to eat soft serve, versus scooped, ice cream.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Even though her words come out soft and delicate, they’re like arrows stabbing my heart.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said Thursday that the company was dealing with “arguably a softer consumer environment than in February.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

Then you get, you know, California’s kind of softer, so it’s harder.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Payrolls data at the start of the month "was followed by broadly in-line inflation, softer retail sales and weaker consumer sentiment", said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Weaker-than-expected U.S. labor data and softer inflation prints eased concerns that the Federal Reserve will need to remain aggressively hawkish, ANZ Research analysts say in a report.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

I strum the E minor chord, softer than the rest of the song.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

New export business was down in May, though to the softest degree since July 2024 and by less that was generally seen last year and early in 2026, S&P Global said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

The data indicated a solid reduction in new work from abroad, although the rate of contraction eased to its softest pace since October.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026

For qualifying, a driver usually wants the softest compound available.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2025

Last month, Megan McCain hosted Usha Vance for what should have been the softest of softball interviews, focused on what life as second lady is like.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2025

Suddenly there was grass under his feet again—the greenest, softest grass that Roy had ever seen.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Related Words

• comfortable
• comfy
• creamy
• delicate
• easy
• elastic
• flexible
• fluffy
• mushy
• plastic
• pliable
• rounded
• silky
• smooth
• spongy
• supple
• thin
• velvety