softly 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.