soft

soft

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of soft in English

English Online Dictionary. What means soft‎? What does soft mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sŏft, IPA(key): /sɒft/
    • (Conservative RP) IPA(key): /sɔːft/
  • (General American) enPR: sôft, IPA(key): /sɔft/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /sɑft/, enPR: sŏft
  • (Southern US, obsolete) enPR: săft, IPA(key): /sæft/
  • Rhymes: -ɒft

Etymology 1

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

soft (comparative softer, superlative softest)

  1. Easily giving way under pressure.
  2. (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
  4. (of a sound) Quiet.
  5. Gentle.
  6. Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
    soft eyes
  7. Gentle in action or motion; easy.
  8. Weak in character; impressible.
  9. Requiring little or no effort; easy.
  10. Not bright or intense.
    soft lighting
  11. Having a slight angle from straight.
  12. (phonetics) Voiced; sonant; lenis.
  13. (phonetics, rare) Voiceless.
  14. (Slavic, phonology) Palatalized.
  15. (slang) Lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy.
  16. (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
  17. (UK, colloquial) Foolish.
  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.
  21. Agreeable to the senses.
    a soft liniment
    soft wines
  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
  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.
  25. (computing) Emulated with software; not physically real.
  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
  30. (of pornography) Softcore
  31. (of kinks or sexual activity) Mild, tame, moderate; far from intense 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.
  36. (informal, idiomatic, followed by on) Attracted to or emotionally involved with someone.
Synonyms
  • (giving way under pressure): see Thesaurus:soft
  • (of a cloth): non-abrasive, fluffy
  • (gentle): gentle, light, nesh
  • (of a sound): quiet
  • (lacking strength or resolve): meek, mild, wimpy, nesh
  • (foolish): daft, foolish, silly, stupid
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “giving way under pressure”): hard, resistant, solid, stony
  • (antonym(s) of “of a cloth”): abrasive, scratchy
  • (antonym(s) of “gentle”): harsh, rough, strong
  • (antonym(s) of “acute”): hard
  • (antonym(s) of “of a sound”): loud
  • (antonym(s) of “lacking strength or resolve”): firm, strict, tough
  • (antonym(s) of “of water”): hard
  • (antonym(s) of “foolish”): sensible
Derived terms
Translations
See also
  • mollify

Interjection

soft

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

Noun

soft (countable and uncountable, plural softs)

  1. (countable, archaic) A soft-headed or foolish person; an idiot.
  2. A soft drink.
  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.
  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.

Etymology 2

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

Adverb

soft (comparative more soft, superlative most soft)

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

References

Anagrams

  • TOFs, FOTs

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft(ware).

Noun

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

Further reading

  • “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

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɔft/
  • Hyphenation: bio‧me‧disch

Adjective

soft (comparative softer, superlative softst)

  1. soft, gentle

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɔft/

Noun

soft m (plural softs)

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

Adjective

soft (plural softs)

  1. softcore (pornography)

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English soft.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɔft/
  • Rhymes: -ɔft
  • Hyphenation: sòft

Adjective

soft (invariable)

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

References

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English software.

Noun

soft n (plural softuri)

  1. software

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From English soft.

Adjective

soft (comparative softare, superlative softast)

  1. (slang) nice or laid-back; chill
    Antonym: osoft

Declension

Related terms

  • softa

References

  • Slangopedia

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.