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softie

[sawf-tee, sof-]
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noun
  1. softy.
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softy

or soft·ie

[sawf-tee, sof-]
noun, plural soft·ies. Informal.
  1. a person easily stirred to sentiment or tender emotion.
  2. a person who lacks stamina or endurance.
  3. a person who lacks strength of character; a silly or foolish person.
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Origin of softy

First recorded in 1860–65; soft + -y2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for softie

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He is a kind of softie—all alive on one side of his brain, and a noodle on the other.

    Robert Elsmere

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

  • After that we dropped the 'Softie,' and re-named him 'Amen-who-shied-that-boot?'

  • "You know well enough that Merriwell is no softie," returned Harry, rather warmly.

    Frank Merriwell at Yale

    Burt L. Standish

British Dictionary definitions for softie

softie

softy

noun plural softies
  1. informal a person who is sentimental, weakly foolish, or lacking in physical endurance
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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

Word Origin and History for softie

softy

n.

also softie, 1863, "silly person," from soft (adj.) + -y (3). Meaning "soft-hearted person" is from 1886; that of "weak, unmanly or effeminate man" is from 1895. The Mister Softee soft ice-cream operation began in Philadelphia, U.S., in 1956.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper