soft
soft
(sôft, sŏft) adjective
softer
, softest
1.
a. Easily molded, cut, or worked. b. Yielding readily to pressure or weight.
2. Out of condition; flabby.
3. Smooth or fine to the touch: a soft fabric.
4. a. Not loud, harsh, or irritating: a soft voice. b. Not brilliant or glaring; subdued: soft colors.
5. Not sharply drawn or delineated: soft charcoal shading; a scene filmed in soft focus.
6. Mild; balmy: a soft breeze.
7. a. Of a gentle disposition; tender. b. Affectionate: a soft glance. c. Attracted or emotionally involved: He has been soft on her for years. d. Not stern; lenient. e. Lacking strength of character; weak. f. Informal. Simple; feeble. g. Gradually declining in trend; not firm: a soft economy; a soft computer market.
8. a. Informal. Easy: a soft job. b. Based on conciliation or negotiation rather than on threats or power plays: took a soft line toward their opponents.
9. Informal and entertaining without confronting difficult issues or hard facts: a soft story about a senator's private life.
10. Using or based on data that is not readily quantifiable or amenable to experimental verification or refutation: soft evidence; the soft sciences.
11. Of or relating to a paper currency as distinct from a hard currency backed by gold.
12. Having low dissolved mineral content.
13. Linguistics. a. Sibilant rather than guttural, as c in certain and g in gem. b. Voiced and weakly articulated: a soft consonant. c. Palatalized, as certain consonants in Slavic languages.
14. Unprotected against nuclear attack: soft missile launching sites; a soft target.
noun
A soft object or part.
adverb
In a soft manner; gently.
[Middle English, pleasant, calm, from Old English sōfte.]
soft
ʹly adverb
soft
ʹness noun