 6 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
soft
adjective
1: lacking in hardness relatively or comparatively [ant: {hard}]
2: metaphorically soft; "my father is a soft touch"; "soft
light"; "a soft rain"; "a soft Southern drawl"; "soft
brown eyes"; "a soft glance" [ant: {hard}]
3: of sound; relatively low in volume; "soft voices"; "soft
music" [ant: {loud}]
4: easily hurt; "soft hands"; "a baby's delicate skin" [syn: {delicate}]
5: used chiefly as a direction or description in music; "the
piano passages in the composition" [syn: {piano}] [ant: {forte}]
6: used of beverages; not containing alcohol; "nonalcoholic
beverages"; "soft drinks" [syn: {nonalcoholic}] [ant: {alcoholic}]
7: of speech sounds; characterized by a hissing or hushing
sound (as 's' and 'sh') [ant: {hard}]
8: tolerant or lenient; "indulgent parents risk spoiling their
children"; "procedures are lax and discipline is weak";
"too soft on the children" [syn: {indulgent}, {lax}, {lenient}]
9: having little impact; "an easy pat on the shoulder"; "gentle
rain"; "a gentle breeze"; "a soft (or light) tapping at
the window" [syn: {easy}, {gentle}]
10: not burdensome or demanding; borne or done easily and
without hardship; "what a cushy job!"; "a soft job" [syn:
{cushy}]
adverb: in a relaxed manner; or without hardship; "just wanted to
take it easy" ('soft' is nonstandard) [syn: {easy}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Soft \Soft\ (s[o^]ft; 115), adjective [Compar. {Softer}
(s[o^]ft"[~e]r); superl. {Softest}.] [OE. softe, AS.
s[=o]fte, properly adverb of s[=e]fte, adjective; akin to OS.
s[=a]fto, adverb, D. zacht, OHG. samfto, adverb, semfti, adjective, G.
sanft, LG. sacht; of uncertain origin.]
1. Easily yielding to pressure; easily impressed, molded, or
cut; not firm in resisting; impressible; yielding; also,
malleable; -- opposed to {hard}; as, a soft bed; a soft
peach; soft earth; soft wood or metal.
2. Not rough, rugged, or harsh to the touch; smooth;
delicate; fine; as, soft silk; a soft skin.
They that wear soft clothing are in king's houses.
--Matt. xi. 8.
3. Hence, agreeable to feel, taste, or inhale; not irritating
to the tissues; as, a soft liniment; soft wines. ''The
soft, delicious air.'' --Milton.
4. Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring; pleasing
to the eye; not exciting by intensity of color or violent
contrast; as, soft hues or tints.
The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds .
. . made the softest lights imaginable. --Sir T.
Browne.
5. Not harsh or rough in sound; gentle and pleasing to the
ear; flowing; as, soft whispers of music.
Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, -- an excellent thing in woman.
--Shak.
Soft were my numbers; who could take offense?
--Pope.
6. Easily yielding; susceptible to influence; flexible;
gentle; kind.
I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's;
Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine. --Shak.
The meek or soft shall inherit the earth. --Tyndale.
7. Expressing gentleness, tenderness, or the like; mild;
conciliatory; courteous; kind; as, soft eyes.
A soft answer turneth away wrath. --Prov. xv. 1.
A face with gladness overspread,
Soft smiles, by human kindness bred. --Wordsworth.
8. Effeminate; not courageous or manly, weak.
A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution
of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft,
and wandering. --Jer. Taylor.
9. Gentle in action or motion; easy.
On her soft axle, white she paces even,
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along.
--Milton.
10. Weak in character; impressible.
The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
--Glanvill.
11. Somewhat weak in intellect. [Colloq.]
He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as
were foolish quite mad. --Burton.
12. Quiet; undisturbed; paceful; as, soft slumbers.
13. Having, or consisting of, a gentle curve or curves; not
angular or abrupt; as, soft outlines.
14. Not tinged with mineral salts; adapted to decompose soap;
as, soft water is the best for washing.
15. (Phonetics)
(a) Applied to a palatal, a sibilant, or a dental
consonant (as g in gem, c in cent, etc.) as
distinguished from a guttural mute (as g in go, c in
cone, etc.); -- opposed to {hard}.
(b) Belonging to the class of sonant elements as
distinguished from the surd, and considered as
involving less force in utterance; as, b, d, g, z, v,
etc., in contrast with p, t, k, s, f, etc.
{Soft clam} (Zo["o]l.), the common or long clam ({Mya
arenaria}). See {Mya}.
{Soft coal}, bituminous coal, as distinguished from
anthracite, or hard, coal.
{Soft crab} (Zo["o]l.), any crab which has recently shed its
shell.
{Soft dorsal} (Zo["o]l.), the posterior part of the dorsal
fin of fishes when supported by soft rays.
{Soft grass}. (Bot.) See {Velvet grass}.
{Soft money}, paper money, as distinguished from coin, or
hard money. [Colloq. U.S.]
{Soft mute}. (Phonetics) See {Media}.
{Soft palate}. See the Note under {Palate}.
{Soft ray} (Zo["o]l.), a fin ray which is articulated and
usually branched.
{Soft soap}. See under {Soap}.
{Soft-tack}, leavened bread, as distinguished from
{hard-tack}, or {ship bread}.
{Soft tortoise} (Zo["o]l.), any river tortoise of the genus
Trionyx. See {Trionyx}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Soft \Soft\, noun
A soft or foolish person; an idiot. [Colloq.] --G. Eliot.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Soft \Soft\, adverb
Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
--Chaucer.
A knight soft riding toward them. --Spenser.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Soft \Soft\, interj.
Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
Soft, you; a word or two before you go. --Shak.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
508 Moby Thesaurus words for "soft":
Mickey Mouse, accented, accepting, adoring, affectionate, afraid,
alveolar, anemic, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental,
articulated, assimilated, asthenic, at peace, baccate, back, balmy,
barely audible, barytone, bathetic, beery, benign, bilabial, bland,
bleeding, bloodless, blurred, blurry, borderline, broad, cacuminal,
calm, careless, casual, central, cerebral, charitable, checked,
chicken, chickenhearted, clear, clement, close, cloying,
comfortable, comfy, commiserative, commodious, compassionate,
complaisant, compressible, concordant, condolent, conjugal,
consonant, consonantal, contented, continuant, convenient, cottony,
coward, cowardly, cowed, cozy, creamy, cullible, cushioned,
cushiony, cushy, daft, dainty, daunted, debilitated, deceivable,
declining, decrescendo, deferential, delicate, deludable,
demonstrative, dental, depressed, devoted, diffused, dim, dirty,
dismayed, dissimilated, distant, docile, dorsal, doughy, downy,
drooping, droopy, dull, dupable, easeful, easy, easy as pie,
easygoing, effeminate, effete, effortless, eggshell, emotionable,
etiolated, exploitable, facile, faint, faint-voiced, fainthearted,
faintish, faithful, fatuous, fearful, feathery, feeble,
feebleminded, filial, fine, flabby, flaccid, flat, fleecy, fleshy,
flexible, flexile, flexuous, floppy, fluffy, foggy, fond, foolable,
foolish, forbearant, forbearing, forceless, forgiving, formless,
frail, friendly, front, funking, funky, furry, fuzzy, gentle, glib,
glide, gloss, glossal, glottal, gone, gone to seed, gooey, green,
gullible, gushing, gutless, guttural, halcyon, half-heard, hard,
harmless, heavy, henhearted, high, hoaxable, homelike, homely,
homey, hoodwinkable, human, humane, humbugable, husbandly, idyllic,
imbecile, impotent, imprecise, impressionable, indifferent,
indistinct, indulgent, infirm, ingenuous, intimidated, intonated,
iridescent, judicious, kind, labial, labiodental, labiovelar,
languid, languishing, languorous, lateral, lax, lazy, lenient,
liberal, light, lily-livered, limber, limp, lingual, liquid,
listless, lived-in, loose, lovelorn, lovesick, lovesome, loving,
low, low-key, lustless, luxurious, macerated, malleable,
marrowless, masticated, maternal, matte, maudlin, mawkish,
mellifluent, mellifluous, mellow, mellowy, melodious, melting,
merciful, mid, mild, mild as milk, milk-livered, milksoppish,
milksoppy, miry, moderate, mollified, monophthongal,
mother-of-pearl, mousy, mucky, muddy, muliebrous, murmured, mushy,
muted, nacreous, naive, namby-pamby, narrow, nasal, nasalized,
negligent, nerveless, nonalcoholic, nonintoxicating, nonresistive,
nonrigid, nonviolent, nostalgic, nostomanic, nothing to it,
occlusive, off, old-womanish, on the downgrade, oozy, opalescent,
open, opulent, orderly, out of condition, out of shape,
out of training, overindulgent, overpermissive, oversentimental,
oversentimentalized, overtimid, overtimorous, oxytone, pacific,
pacifistic, painless, palatal, palatalized, pale, pampered,
panic-prone, panicky, pappy, parental, passible, pastel, pastoral,
pasty, paternal, patient, patinaed, peaceable, peaceful, peacetime,
pearly, permissive, persuadable, pharyngeal, pharyngealized,
phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pianissimo, piano, pigeonhearted,
piping, pitch, pitched, pithless, pithy, pitying, plain, plashy,
plastic, pleasant, pliable, pliant, plush, plushy, pooped, posh,
posttonic, powerless, prissy, prudent, pulpal, pulpar, pulped,
pulplike, pulpy, puny, quaggy, questionable, quiet, rabbity,
receptive, relaxed, relaxing, remiss, reposeful, responsive,
restful, retroflex, rich, ritzy, romantic, roomy, rounded, rubbery,
run to seed, rusty, ruthful, sad, sapless, satiny, scarcely heard,
seduceable, semigloss, semivowel, sensible, sensitive, sentimental,
sentimentalized, serene, silken, silky, silly, simple,
simple as ABC, sinewless, sissified, sissy, sissyish, slabby,
slack, sleek, slipping, slipshod, slobby, sloppy, sloshy, sloughy,
slow, sludgy, slushy, smooth, snug, sober, soft as putty,
soft-colored, soft-hued, soft-sounding, soft-voiced, softened,
softhearted, somber, sonant, soothing, spineless, splashy, spongy,
sposhy, springlike, squashy, squelchy, squishy, squushy, sticky,
stiff, stopped, straightforward, strengthless, stressed, strong,
subaudible, subdued, submissive, subtle, succulent, summery,
supple, surd, susceptible, swanky, sweet, syllabic, sympathetic,
sympathizing, tame, tear-jerking, teary, temperate, tender,
tenderhearted, tense, thick, throaty, timid, timorous, tolerant,
tonal, tonic, tranquil, turbid, twangy, unaccented, unburdensome,
unclear, uncomplicated, undemanding, understanding, unhardened,
uninebriating, unmanly, unmanned, unnerved, unprofitable,
unrestrained, unrounded, unsophisticated, unstressed, unstrung,
untroubled, uxorious, velar, velvety, victimizable, vocalic,
vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, warm, warmhearted,
weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded, weak-voiced, weakhearted, weakly,
whisper-soft, whispered, white-livered, wide, wifely, witless,
womanish, woolly, workable, yellow, yielding
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