soft
UK /sɒft/ · US /sɔft/ adjective, interjection, noun, adverb
Forms softer softest softs
- adjective Easily giving way under pressure. “My head sank easily into the soft pillow.”
- adjective (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh. “Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.”
- adjective (of a sound) Quiet. “I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.”
- adjective Gentle. “There was a soft breeze blowing.”
- adjective Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
- adjective Gentle in action or motion; easy.
- adjective Limp, weak.
- adjective Weak in character; impressible.
- interjection (archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
- noun (countable, archaic) A soft-headed or foolish person; an idiot.
- noun A soft drink.
- noun (countable, motor racing) A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.
- noun (countable, colloquial) A soft sound or part of a sound.
- noun (countable, computing, dated, nonstandard, rare) A piece of software.
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete, uncountable) Banknotes.
- adverb (obsolete) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
Synonyms
fluffy non-abrasive quiet gentle light nesh acute meek mild wimpy daft foolish silly stupid asinine balmy barmy bedaft loony derpy delicate voiced sonant piano diffuse diffused indulgent lenient easy flabby
Antonyms
hard resistant solid stony abrasive scratchy loud harsh rough strong firm strict hardened
Etymology
From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte, alteration of earlier sēfte (“soft”), from Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) (“level, even, smooth, soft, gentle”) (compare *sōmiz (“agreeable, fitting”)), from Proto-Indo-European *semptio-, *semtio-, from *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate with West Frisian sêft (“gentle; soft”), Dutch zacht (“soft”), German Low German sacht (“soft”), German sanft (“soft, yielding”), Old Norse sœmr (“agreeable, fitting”), samr (“same”). More at seem, same.
From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte (“softly”), from Proto-West Germanic *samftō (“softly”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Easily yielding to pressure; easily impressed, molded, or cut; not firm in resisting; impressible; yielding; also, malleable; --opposed to Ant: hard; as, a soft bed; a soft peach; soft earth; soft wood or metal.
- adjective Not rough, rugged, or harsh to the touch; smooth; delicate; fine; as, soft silk; a soft skin.
- noun A soft or foolish person; an idiot. [Colloq.] G. Eliot.
- adverb Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
Etymology [OE. softe, AS. s, properly adv. of s, adj.; akin to OS. safto, adv., D. zacht, OHG. samfto, adv., semfti, adj., G. sanft, LG. sacht; of uncertain origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “soft”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details