Sekirov Dictionary

soft

UK /sɒft/US /sɔft/

adjective 39
noun 6
adverb 1
exclamation 1
forms 5
phrases 7

adjective39

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giving way easily when pressed, so that a finger or a hand sinks into it, as into a pillow
- My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
•
Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
- Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.
•
Quiet.
- I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
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Gentle.
- There was a soft breeze blowing.
•
Gentle in action or motion; easy.
- On her soft axle, white she paces even, / And bears thee soft with the smooth air along. — 1667
Softcore
Mild, tame, moderate; far from intense or excluding harsh elements.
Not bright or intense.
•
Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye.
- soft colours
- the soft outline of the snow-covered hill
Made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows.
Limp, weak.
•
Weak in character; impressible.
- The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's. — 1665
Physically or emotionally weak.
•
(slang) Excessively empathetic or concerned about others’ wellbeing.
- He’s too soft for the ruthless world of finance.
•
(slang) Lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy.
- When it comes to drinking, he is as soft as they come.
Easy-going, lenient, not strict; permissive.
•
Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
- soft eyes
•
Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
- You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft.
Of paper: unsized.
Of silk: having the natural gum cleaned or washed off.
Not containing alcohol.
•
Requiring little or no effort; easy.
- Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job. — 1892
•
Incomplete, or temporary; not a full action.
- The admin imposed a soft ban on the user.
- Messages removed by soft deletion can be recovered if necessary.
Not likely to cause addiction.
•
Of a market: having more supply than demand; being a buyer's market.
- Overall the rental market is soft and multifamily permit activity is almost nonexistent. — 1995
•
Emulated with software; not physically real.
- Press the red button on the soft phone to hang up.
(informal) Attracted to or emotionally involved (with someone).
•
Having a slight angle from straight.
- At the intersection with two roads going left, take the soft left.
- It's important to dance on soft knees to avoid injury.
•
(UK, informal) Foolish.
- He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad. — 1621
•
Voiced; sonant; lenis.
- DH represents the voiced (soft) th of English these clothes. — 1954
Of a ferromagnetic material; a material that becomes essentially non-magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed, a material with a low magnetic coercivity. (compare hard)
Of coal: bituminous, as opposed to anthracitic.
(UK, slang) Fake; counterfeit.
Of weather: warm enough to melt ice; thawing.
•
Agreeable to the senses.
- soft wines
•
(slang, old-fashioned) Agreeable generally; pleasant.
- And then there'll be the insurance people. And then a young man introducing himself as "The Press". I'll tell you what, sergeant, this being burgled isn't such a soft thing after all. — 1927
•
(UK) Effeminate.
- A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft, and wandering. — 1650
Palatalized.
(rare) Voiceless.

noun6

•
A soft drink.
- Artois' story with water and softs was embodied in the difficult relationship between Raymond Boon and Spa's main owner and CEO, Guy du Bois. — 2019
A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.
•
(informal) A soft sound or part of a sound.
- The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […] — 2012
•
(nonstandard, old-fashioned) A piece of software.
- Sega and third-party licensees are set to release an abundance of softs that range from intense shooters to sports to reflex-testers. — 1989
•
(no longer used) A soft-headed or foolish person; an idiot.
- It'll do you no good to sit in a spring-cart o' your own, if you've got a soft to drive you: he'll soon turn you over into the ditch. — 1859
•
(slang, no longer used) Banknotes.
- Putting his mouth to my ear, he whispered hoarsely. "Do you want to buy any queer soft?" […] In my dream I had been haunted by a counterfeiter, vulgarly called "a smasher." — 1876

adverb1

•
(no longer used) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
- A Knight soft ryding towards them they spyde — 1596

exclamation1

•
(no longer used) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
- Soft you; a word or two before you goe: / I haue done the State some seruice, and they know’t: / No more of that. — 1603

forms

softs · more soft · softer · most soft · softest

Phrases with soft

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