. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
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)
- Easily giving way under pressure.
My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
- (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
- (of a sound) Quiet.
I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Her voice was ever soft, / Gentle, and low, — an excellent thing in woman.
- Gentle.
There was a soft breeze blowing.
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's; / Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine.
c. 1533, William Tyndale, An exposicion upon of Mathew:The meek or soft shall inherit the earth.
- Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
soft eyes
- Gentle in action or motion; easy.
1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →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.
- Weak in character; impressible.
1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; , London: E. C for Henry Eversden , →OCLC:The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
- 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.
- Not bright or intense.
soft lighting
- 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.
- (phonetics) Voiced; sonant; lenis.
- (phonetics, rare) Voiceless.
- (Slavic phonology) Palatalized.
- (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.
- (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft.
- (UK, colloquial) Foolish.
1621, Robert Burton, The Essential Anatomy of Melancholy:He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad.
- (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)
- (of a person) Physically or emotionally weak.
- (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.
- Agreeable to the senses.
a soft liniment
soft wines
1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:the soft, delicious air
- 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.
- (photography, of light) Made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows.
- 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.
- (computing) Emulated with software; not physically real.
Press the red button on the soft phone to hang up.
- (of a drug) Not likely to cause addiction.
- (of a drink) Not containing alcohol.
- Easy-going, lenient, not strict; permissive.
soft on crime
- (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.
- (of pornography) Softcore.
- Of paper: unsized.
- Of silk: having the natural gum cleaned or washed off.
- Of coal: bituminous, as opposed to anthracitic.
- Of weather: warm enough to melt ice; thawing.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
easily giving way under pressure
- Abkhaz: атата (atʼatʼa)
- Afrikaans: sag (af)
- Albanian: i butë (sq)
- Arabic: نَاعِم (nāʕim), لين (layin)
- Egyptian Arabic: نَاعِم (nāʕim)
- Armenian: փափուկ (hy) (pʻapʻuk)
- Aromanian: moali
- Assamese: নৰম (norom)
- Azerbaijani: yumşaq (az)
- Bashkir: йомшаҡ (yomşaq)
- Belarusian: мя́ккі (be) (mjákki)
- Bengali: নরম (bn) (norom)
- Bikol Central: malumoy (bcl)
- Bulgarian: мек (bg) (mek)
- Burmese: ပျော့ (my) (pyau.)
- Carpathian Rusyn: мня́гкый (mnjáhkŷj)
- Catalan: moll (ca)
- Cebuano: humok
- Chamicuro: kala chmawa, pe'cha
- Chechen: кӏеда (kʼeda)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 軟/软 (jyun5)
- Mandarin: 軟/软 (zh) (ruǎn)
- Crimean Tatar: yumşaq, yımşaq
- Czech: měkký (cs) m
- Danish: sagte
- Dolgan: һымнагас
- Dutch: zacht (nl)
- Erzya: чевте (čevťe)
- Esperanto: mola (eo)
- Estonian: pehme (et)
- Evenki: немумэ (ņemumə)
- Finnish: pehmeä (fi)
- French: mou (fr) m, molle (fr) f, doux (fr)
- Friulian: mol
- Galician: mol (gl), dondo m, olmo m, nidio m
- Georgian: რბილი (rbili)
- German: weich (de)
- Greek: απαλός (el) (apalós), μαλακός (el) (malakós)
- Ancient: ἁπαλός (hapalós), μαλακός (malakós), μαλθακός (malthakós)
- Hawaiian: palupalu, waliwali
- Hebrew: רַך (he) (rakh)
- Hindi: कोमल (hi) (komal), नरम (hi) (naram)
- Hungarian: lágy (hu), puha (hu)
- Icelandic: mjúkur (is)
- Ido: mola (io)
- Ilocano: nalukneng
- Indonesian: lembut (id)
- Ingrian: pehmiä
- Ingush: кӏаьда (kʼäda)
- Inuinnaqtun: aqittuq
- Inuktitut:
- Inuttut: aĸittuk, ĸituttuk
- North Baffin: ᐊᕿᑦᑐᖅ (aqittoq)
- South Baffin: ᐊᕿᑦᑐᖅ (aqittoq)
- Irish: bog
- Italian: morbido (it) m, morbida (it) f, soffice (it), molle (it)
- Ivatan: mahma
- Japanese: 柔らかい (ja) (やわらかい, yawarakai)
- Javanese: lembut (jv)
- Jingpho: mäni, nu
- Kapampangan: malambut
- Karachay-Balkar: джумушакъ (cumuşaq)
- Karaim: йымшакъ
- Kazakh: жұмсақ (jūmsaq)
- Khakas: нымзах (nımzax)
- Khmer: កោមល (km) (kaomɑl)
- Korean: 부드럽다 (ko) (budeureopda)
- Kumyk: йымышакъ (yımışaq)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: nerm (ku)
- Kyrgyz: жумшак (ky) (jumşak)
- Lao: ນຸ່ມ (num)
- Latgalian: meiksts
- Latin: mollis
- Latvian: mīksts (lv) m
- Lithuanian: minkštas
- Livonian: pīemdõ
- Lombard: mòll
- Luxembourgish: weech, mëll, siddeleg
- Macedonian: мек (mek)
- Malay: lembut
- Manchu: ᡥᠠᡳᡥᡡ (haihū), ᡠᡥᡠᡴᡝᠨ (uhuken)
- Maori: māngohe, kōparuparu (referring to soil), kūteretere (of butter and other semi-solids), pūngahungahu, pūngorungoru
- Marathi: मऊ (mr) (maū)
- Mongolian: зөөлөн (mn) (zöölön)
- Nogai: юмсак (yumsak)
- Norman: mo
- Norwegian: svak (no), myk
- Occitan: mòl (oc)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ)
- Old English: hnesċe, sēfte
- Old Javanese: lĕmbut
- Persian: نرم (fa) (narm)
- Plautdietsch: wieekj, saunft
- Polish: miękki (pl)
- Portuguese: mole (pt)
- Quechua: api
- Rohingya: norom
- Romanian: moale (ro)
- Romansch: lom
- Russian: мя́гкий (ru) (mjáxkij)
- Sanskrit: मृदु (sa) (mṛdu), कोमल (sa) (komala)
- Sardinian: modde, moddi, moddu, modhe, modhi, modhu
- Scottish Gaelic: bog, maoth, sèimh
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ме̏к
- Roman: mȅk (sh)
- Sherpa: འཇམ་པུ ('jam pu)
- Shor: чымчақ
- Sicilian: moddu (scn)
- Slovak: mäkký
- Slovene: mêhek (sl)
- Somali: jilicsan
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: měki
- Southern Altai: јымжак (ǰïmžak)
- Spanish: blando (es), muelle (es), mole (es)
- Swedish: mjuk (sv)
- Tagalog: malambot
- Tajik: нарм (tg) (narm)
- Talysh: nam
- Tat: nərm
- Tatar: йомшак (tt) (yomşaq)
- Thai: นุ่ม (th) (nûm), นิ่ม (th) (nîm)
- Tocharian B: lalaṃṣke
- Tofa: чымҷақ
- Turkish: yumuşak (tr)
- Turkmen: ýumşak
- Tuvan: чымчак (çımçak)
- Ukrainian: м'яки́й (uk) (mʺjakýj)
- Urdu: کومل (kōmal), نرم (naram)
- Urum: йымшах, йумшах
- Uyghur: يۇمشاق (yumshaq)
- Uzbek: yumshoq (uz)
- Venetian: mòlo, moło, mol, tènaro
- Vietnamese: mềm (vi)
- Welsh: meddal (cy)
- White Hmong: muag
- Yakut: сымнаҕас (sımnağas)
- Yiddish: ווייך (veykh)
|
of cloth or similar material: smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh
- Arabic: نَاعِم (nāʕim)
- Bashkir: йомшаҡ (yomşaq)
- Bikol Central: mayumok
- Bulgarian: мек (bg) (mek)
- Catalan: suau (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 軟/软 (zh) (ruǎn)
- Czech: měkký (cs)
- Dutch: zacht (nl)
- Finnish: pehmeä (fi)
- French: mou (fr) m, molle (fr) f, doux (fr)
- Galician: suave (gl), dondio m, dondo m, mácio m
- German: weich (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: μαλακός (malakós), μαλθακός (malthakós)
- Hawaiian: nahenahe
- Hungarian: puha (hu), finom (hu)
- Ingrian: neežnoi
- Irish: bog
- Italian: soffice (it) m or f, morbido (it)
- Japanese: 柔らかい (ja) (やわらかい, yawarakai)
- Korean: 부드럽다 (ko) (budeureopda)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نەرم (nerm)
- Northern Kurdish: nerm (ku)
- Latin: mollis
- Latvian: mīksts (lv)
- Maori: māeneene, mania (refers particularly to hair), newanewa
- Norman: mo
- Norwegian: myk
- Occitan: suau (oc) m
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ)
- Old English: hnesċe, sēfte
- Persian: نرم (fa) (narm)
- Polish: miękki (pl)
- Portuguese: macio (pt) m
- Romanian: moale (ro)
- Russian: мя́гкий (ru) (mjáxkij)
- Scottish Gaelic: bog, tlàth, sèimh, maoth
- Spanish: suave (es)
- Telugu: మెత్తటి (te) (mettaṭi)
- Vietnamese: mềm (vi)
- Welsh: meddal (cy)
- Yiddish: ווייך (veykh)
|
of a sound
— see also quiet
- Bulgarian: нежен (bg) (nežen)
- Burmese: တိုး (my) (tui:)
- Catalan: dolç (ca), suau (ca), lleuger (ca)
- Dutch: zacht (nl)
- Esperanto: dolĉa (eo)
- Finnish: lempeä (fi), hellä (fi)
- French: doux (fr) m, douce (fr) f
- Galician: suave (gl), lene (gl), maino (gl), sangal m, manseliño
- German: sanft (de)
- Hungarian: gyengéd (hu), lágy (hu)
- Irish: bog, tláith
- Italian: dolce (it) m or f
- Korean: 부드럽다 (ko) (budeureopda), 유순하다 (ko) (yusunhada)
- Latvian: mīksts (lv)
- Maori: momohe (of the eyes)
- Norwegian: forsiktig
- Old Church Slavonic: мѧкъкъ (mękŭkŭ)
- Old English: sēfte
- Persian: ملایم (fa) (molâyem), ساویز (fa) (sâviz)
- Plautdietsch: lind
- Polish: łagodny (pl)
- Portuguese: suave (pt)
- Romanian: delicat (ro), gingaș (ro), suav (ro)
- Russian: мя́гкий (ru) (mjáxkij)
- Scottish Gaelic: bog, maoth, caomh, tlàth
- Serbo-Croatian: blag (sh)
- Spanish: suave (es), ligero (es), tenue (es)
- Vietnamese: nhẹ (vi), nhẹ nhàng (vi)
- Welsh: tyner (cy)
|
expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind
gentle in action or motion; easy
weak in character; impressible
requiring little or no effort; easy
having a slight angle from straight
phonetics: voiced, sonant, lenis
— see also voiced
Slavic phonology: palatalized
slang: lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy
of water: low in dissolved calcium compounds
UK, colloquial: foolish
— see foolish
physics, of a ferromagnetic material: that becomes essentially non-magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed
of a person: physically or emotionally weak
not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye
photography, of light: made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows
incomplete, or temporary; not a full action
computing: emulated with software; not physically real
— see emulated
of a drug: not likely to cause addiction
of a drink: not containing alcohol
finance, of a market: having more supply than demand; being a buyer's market
See also
Interjection
soft
- (archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Soft, you; a word or two before you go.
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
Noun
soft (plural softs)
- A soft or foolish person; an idiot.
1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 9, in Adam Bede , volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first: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.
- (motor racing) Ellipsis of soft tyre. (A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.)
- (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 […]
- (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.
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)
- (obsolete) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., , , →OCLC, page 0091:There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
References
Czech
Etymology
Borrowed from English soft(ware).
Noun
soft m inan
- (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
Declension of soft (hard masculine inanimate)
Further reading
- soft in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
- soft in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
- soft in Internetová jazyková příručka
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English soft.
Pronunciation
Noun
soft m (plural softs)
- (sexuality) soft porn
- (computing, uncountable) software
- (computing, countable) a piece of software
Adjective
soft (plural softs)
- softcore (pornography)
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English soft.
Pronunciation
Adjective
soft (invariable)
- soft (tone etc.; temporary (computing))
References
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from English software.
Noun
soft n (plural softuri)
- software
Declension
Swedish
Etymology
From English soft.
Adjective
soft (comparative softare, superlative softast)
- (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
Related terms