soft

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled sof

US /sɔft/ UK /sɒft/ See IPA manual

Freq #1762

Meanings

1

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

My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
2

adj
Smooth and pleasant to touch; not rough.

Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching it.
3

adj
Quiet and gentle; not loud.

She spoke in a soft voice so as not to wake the baby.
4

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

The moon cast soft shadows across the garden.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · smooth and pleasant to... fluffy

4 adj · gentle and not bright or... subdued

More cushiony flabby flaccid flexible malleable mellow moldable pliable spongy tender yieldingzate

Opposites

firm hard resistant solid stony unyielding

Word family

Forms softersoftestsofts

Derived forms airsoftfail-softfailsofthypersoftmallsoftnonsoftoversoftsemi-softsemisoftsoft-blocksoft-boiledsoft-cancel

Related forms mollify

Etymology

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.

*sem- Proto-Indo-European softe Middle English sōfte Old English *samft(ī) Proto-West Germanic *semptio- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

External links

# soft

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /sɔft/
**IPA (UK):** /sɒft/
**Frequency rank:** 1762

## Meanings
1. Easy to press, bend, or shape; not hard.
2. Smooth and pleasant to touch; not rough.
3. Quiet and gentle; not loud.
4. Gentle and not bright or harsh, especially of light or color.

## Examples
- My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
- Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching it.
- She spoke in a soft voice so as not to wake the baby.
- The moon cast soft shadows across the garden.

## Synonyms
- cushiony
- flabby
- flaccid
- flexible
- malleable
- mellow
- moldable
- pliable
- spongy
- tender
- yielding
- zate

## Antonyms
- firm
- hard
- resistant
- solid
- stony
- unyielding

## Derived Forms
- airsoft
- fail-soft
- failsoft
- hypersoft
- mallsoft
- nonsoft
- oversoft
- semi-soft
- semisoft
- soft-block
- soft-boiled
- soft-cancel

## Related Forms
- mollify

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *sem-
- Root: softe
- Root: sōfte
- Root: *samft(ī)
- Root: *semptio-

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Soft is 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. Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *sem-, Middle English softe, Old English sōfte, Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī), Proto-Indo-European *semptio-. In current use it includes senses such as Easy to press, bend, or shape; not hard and Smooth and pleasant to touch; not rough.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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