soft spot Definition

soft
adj

1. Easily yielding or changing shape when pressed; pliable or malleable.

Thesaurus: malleable, pliant, elastic, flexible, bendable, lax, limp, plastic, yielding; Antonym: rigid, hard.
2. Easily yielding to pressure.
3. Easily cut.
4. Said of fabric, etc: having a smooth surface or texture producing little or no friction.

Thesaurus: smooth, satiny, velvety, silken, delicate, feathery, downy, supple, tender, cushy; Antonym: rough.
5. Pleasing or soothing to the senses; quiet.

Example: a soft voice
Thesaurus: muted, dull, low, melodious, mellifluous, faint, quiet; Antonym: harsh, loud.
6. Having little brightness; not glaring or brash.

Example: soft colours
Thesaurus: muted, shaded, pale, pastel, dusky, dull.
7. Kind or sympathetic, especially excessively so.

Thesaurus: indulgent, liberal, lenient, permissive, yielding, compliant; Antonym: tough.
8. Not able to endure rough treatment or hardship.

Thesaurus: pampered, spoiled, cosseted, indulged, flabby, weak, overindulged; Antonym: strong.
9. Lacking strength of character; easily influenced.
10. colloq
Weak in the mind; simple.
Example: soft in the head
11. Used especially in Liverpool: stupid or naive; weak

Example: Don't be soft!
12. Said of a person: out of training; in an unfit condition.
13. Weakly sentimental.
14. mineralogy.
Easily scratched.
15. Said of water: low in or free from mineral salts and so lathering easily.
16. Said of coal: bituminous.
17. Tender; loving or affectionate.

Example: soft words
18. colloq
Requiring little effort; easy.
Example: a soft job
19. Said of diet: consisting of semi-liquid and easily-digestible foods.
20. Said of drugs: not severely addictive.
21. soft-core.
22. With moderate rather than hardline or extreme policies.

Example: the soft left
23. phonetics., non-technical
Said of the consonants c and g: pronounced as a fricative as in dance and age respectively, rather than as a stop, as in can and gate. Compare hard adj.
24a. finance.
Said of prices, markets, etc: inclined to drop in value;
24b. finance.
Said of currency: not in great demand, usually due to a weakness in the balance of payments system.
25. Said of radiation: having short wavelengths and therefore not highly penetrating.
26. In computer typesetting and word-processing: referring to a space, hyphen (see soft hyphen) or page break that can be automatically removed when its environment changes to make it redundant.

adverb

1. Softly; gently.

Example: speaks soft

Derivative: softly
adverb

Derivative: softness
noun

Idiom: be soft on someone (go soft on someone)

To be lenient towards them.

To be infatuated with them.

Derivative: soft spot

See separate entry.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon softe.

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soft spot
noun

1. colloq
A special liking or affection.
Example: has a soft spot for tall men
Example: has a soft spot for chocolate ice cream
Thesaurus: fondness, liking, partiality, penchant, weakness.
2. An informal name for a fontanelle.

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spot
noun

1. A small mark or stain.

Thesaurus: speck, mark, discolouration, stain, smudge, blemish, flaw, blot, daub.
2. A drop of liquid.
3. A small amount, especially of liquid.

Thesaurus: pinch, iota, bit, morsel, splash.
4. An eruption on the skin; a pimple.
5. A place.

Example: found a secluded spot
Thesaurus: place, locality, site, area, region, scene, point, position.
6. colloq
A small amount of work.
Example: did a spot of ironing
7. A place or period in a schedule or programme.

Example: a five-minute comedy spot
8. colloq
A spotlight.
9. snooker.billiards.
A mark on the table where a specified ball is placed.
Example: had to put the black on pink ball's spot
10. A relatively dark patch on the sun.
11. colloq
A place of entertainment.
Example: knew all the hot spots in town

verb spotted, spotting

1. To mark with spots.
2. To see; to catch sight of something.

Thesaurus: sight, detect, find, locate, discern, espy, observe, see, make out, recognize, identify.
3. To watch for and record the sighting of (eg trains, planes, etc).
4. To search for (new talent).
intr
5. Said of rain: to fall lightly.
6. snooker.billiards.
To put (a ball) in its proper place on the table or, if that is not possible, to place it on the next available one.

Derivative: spotting
noun

Derivative: -spotting
noun

Note: in compounds

Example: trainspotting

Derivative: high spot

See separate entry.

Idiom: in a spot

colloq
In trouble or difficulty.

Idiom: knock spots off someone or something

colloq
To be overwhelmingly better than them.

Idiom: on the spot

Immediately and often without warning.
Example: Motorists caught speeding are fined on the spot

At the scene of some notable event.

In an awkward situation, especially one requiring immediate action or response.
Example: put someone on the spot

Derivative: soft spot

Andsee separate entries.

Etymology: 12c: from Norse spotti small bit.