Wiktionary

soft

See also: -soft and софт

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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.

Adjective

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soft (comparative softer, superlative softest)

  1. Easily giving way under pressure.
    My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
    • 2007 September 9, Sara Dickerman, “Olympic Dinners”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      My favorite Greek cheese is the creamy, sheepy manouri: delicately scented and almost spreadable, it’s like a softer, pudgier feta.
    • 2010, Robert Beeman, No More Time for Sorrow, page 133:
      […] Category Two implement hitches and doubled high-traction agricultural tires hung four to each massive rear axle to breast the steepest, softest dune or guckiest swamp […]
  2. (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
    Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.
    soft silk; a soft skin
  4. (of a sound) Quiet.
    I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
  5. Gentle.
    There was a soft breeze blowing.
  6. Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
    soft eyes
  7. Gentle in action or motion; easy.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      On her soft axle, white she paces even, / And bears thee soft with the smooth air along.
  8. Weak in character; impressible.
    • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC:
      The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
  9. Requiring little or no effort; easy.
    • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá:
      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.
  10. Not bright or intense.
    soft lighting
  11. 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.
  12. (phonetics) Voiced; sonant; lenis.
  13. (phonetics, rare) Voiceless.
  14. (Slavic, phonology) Palatalized.
  15. (slang) Lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy.
    When it comes to drinking, he is as soft as they come.
    • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 31:
      ‘Going soft on me, Jack?’ ‘You know I’m not.’ ‘Then why all the fuss and blow?’
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Prison Ship Purgatory:
      Warden Kuril: Every day I see the worst sapient life has to offer. Governments are soft, unwilling to make the hard choices.
      Warden Kuril: Someone had to stand up and make the galaxy safe.
  16. (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
    You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft.
  17. (UK, colloquial) Foolish.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Essential Anatomy of Melancholy:
      He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad.
  18. (physics) 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)
  19. (of a person) Physically or emotionally weak.
    see: snowflake and softie
  20. (UK, of a man) Effeminate.
    • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living:
      A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft, and wandering.
  21. Agreeable to the senses.
    a soft liniment
    soft wines
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      the soft, delicious air
  22. 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
    • 1673, Edward Browne, A Brief Account of some Travels in Hungaria, Styria, Bulgaria, Thessaly, Austria, Serbia, Carynthia, Carniola, and Friuli:
      The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds […] made the softest lights imaginable.
  23. (photography, of light) Made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows.
  24. 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.
  25. (computing) Emulated with software; not physically real.
    Press the red button on the soft phone to hang up.
  26. (of a drug) Not likely to cause addiction.
  27. (of a drink) Not containing alcohol.
  28. Easy-going, lenient, not strict; permissive.
    Synonym: easy
    Antonym: hard
    soft on crime
  29. (finance) Of a market: having more supply than demand; being a buyer's market.
    Antonym: hard
    • 1995, U.S. Housing Market Conditions, page 45:
      Overall the rental market is soft and multifamily permit activity is almost nonexistent.
  30. (of pornography) Softcore
  31. (of kinks or sexual activity) Mild, tame, moderate; far from intense and/or excluding harsh elements.
    Synonym: light
    soft humiliation play
    soft raceplay
    soft vore
  32. Of paper: unsized.
  33. Of silk: having the natural gum cleaned or washed off.
  34. Of coal: bituminous, as opposed to anthracitic.
  35. Of weather: warm enough to melt ice; thawing.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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single words
Compound words and expressions
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
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Interjection

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soft

  1. (archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.

Noun

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soft (countable and uncountable, plural softs)

  1. (countable, archaic) A soft-headed or foolish person; an idiot.
  2. A soft drink.
    • 2019, Kenneth Bertrams, Julien Del Marmol, Sander Geerts, Becoming the World's Biggest Brewer:
      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.
  3. (countable, motor racing) A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.
  4. (countable, colloquial) A soft sound or part of a sound.
    • 2012, Sam McGuire, Paul Lee, The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro, page 103:
      The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […]
  5. (countable, computing, dated, nonstandard, rare) A piece of software.
    • December 1989, Electronic Gaming Monthly:
      Sega and third-party licensees are set to release an abundance of softs that range from intense shooters to sports to reflex-testers.
  6. (UK, slang, obsolete, uncountable) Banknotes.
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:
      At the end of the two years and a half I got into the way of forged Bank-of-England notes. A man I knew in the course of business, said, ‘I would cut that game of ‘smatter-hauling,’ (stealing handkerchiefs), and do a little soft,’ (pass bad notes).
    • 1876, The Guernsey Magazine, volume 4:
      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."

Etymology 2

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From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte (“softly”), from Proto-West Germanic *samftō (“softly”).

Adverb

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soft (comparative more soft, superlative most soft)

  1. (obsolete) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.

References

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  1. ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 8, page 22.

Anagrams

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Czech

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English soft(ware).

Noun

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soft m inan

  1. (colloquial) software, program
    • 18 March 1999, CD-R 74min X 80min, Group cz.comp.ibmpc:
      Zajimalo by mne, zda jsou tyto CD schopna pracovat na plnou kapacitu s normalnimi vypalovackami a beznym softem nebo je na ne potreba mit extra vypalovadlo i soft?
    • 19 March 2009, Zalohovaci SW, Group cz.talk:
      Pokud těch dat máte víc, pak tím TARem stačí zálohovat základ systému a zbytek řešit zálohovacím softem, kterej umí dělit archiv na několik pásek.
    • 2 April 2010, gsm modul / telefon, Group cz.comp.linux:
      ma nekdo nejake zkusenosti s takovym zarizenim ci softem kterym to ovladat?

Declension

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Declension of soft (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative soft softy
genitive softu softů
dative softu softům
accusative soft softy
vocative softe softy
locative softu softech
instrumental softem softy

Further reading

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  • “soft”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
  • “soft”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “soft”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English soft.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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soft m (plural softs)

  1. (sexuality) soft porn
  2. (computing, uncountable) software
  3. (computing, countable) a piece of software

Adjective

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soft (plural softs)

  1. softcore (pornography)

Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English soft.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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soft (invariable)

  1. soft (tone etc.; temporary (computing))

References

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  1. ^ soft in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English software.

Noun

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soft n (plural softuri)

  1. software

Declension

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Declension of soft
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative soft softul softuri softurile
genitive-dative soft softului softuri softurilor
vocative softule softurilor

Swedish

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Etymology

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From English soft.

Adjective

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soft (comparative softare, superlative softast)

  1. (slang) nice and/or laid-back; chill
    Antonym: osoft
    en soft snubbe
    a chill guy
    Det ska bli riktigt soft med några dagar ledigt
    It's gonna be real chill to have a few days off
    Soft att du klarade provet!
    Nice that you passed the test!

Declension

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Inflection of soft
Indefinite positive comparative superlative1
common singular soft softare softast
neuter singular soft softare softast
plural softa softare softast
masculine plural2 softe softare softast
Definite positive comparative superlative
masculine singular3 softe softare softaste
all softa softare softaste

1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
2 Dated or archaic.
3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

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References

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