soft

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Easy to press, bend, or shape; not hard.

   My head sank easily into the soft pillow.

2. 2
   adj

   Smooth and pleasant to touch; not rough.

   Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching it.

3. 3
   adj

   Quiet and gentle; not loud.

   She spoke in a soft voice so as not to wake the baby.

4. 4
   adj

   Gentle and not bright or harsh, especially of light or color.

   The moon cast soft shadows across the garden.

Common collocations

• soft drink Adjective + noun
• soft knock Adjective + noun
• soft voice Adjective + noun

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.

Topics