soft

Less common meanings

11. 11
    not finaladjective

    Done only partially or provisionally, stopping short of the full action.

    The studio chose a soft launch in a few cities to test demand.

    The company did a soft launch of the app in two small cities, hoping to fix any bugs before the national release.

    UsageGoes before nouns in fixed pairs: soft launch, soft ban, soft delete.

    Similartentative, provisional, preliminary

    Oppositehard, firm, final

    Note

    Moderation and software vocabulary for an action that stops short of the final step. A soft ban can remove a user without permanent exclusion, and soft deletion hides messages while leaving them recoverable. Its implied partner is the full, permanent version of the same action.

12. 12
    attractedadjectivecolloquialidiomatic

    Feeling attracted to or emotionally attached to someone.

    He turned red every time she walked into the office, and his friends teased him for being soft on her.

    She tried to hide just how soft she was on him.

    UsageNeeds on: soft on someone. Since soft on offenders means lenient, context decides.

    Similarsweet, keen, smitten

13. 13
    adjective

    Undemanding and comfortable, calling for little effort or hardship.

    Veterans were rewarded with soft assignments far from the front.

    He coasted through a soft schedule of light, undemanding classes.

    UsageCommon phrases include a soft job and a soft option.

    Similareasy, cushy, undemanding, comfortable, light

    Oppositehard, tough, demanding, difficult

    Note

    Ease is measured here by how much work a thing demands, and the collocation that carries it is soft job. Robert Louis Stevenson's The Beach of Falesá (1892) has a drifter forever "going round after a soft job". The phrase still points to a post that asks little of whoever holds it. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Beach of Falesá. en.wikipedia.org
    • The work was first published in 1892, as a serial. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in the narrator's description of a wandering man seeking easy employment. gutenberg.org
14. 14
    low mineraladjective

    Of water, containing little dissolved calcium and magnesium, so that soap lathers easily and little scale forms.

    Households with soft water use far less detergent to get a good lather.

    Because the town's water is so soft, soap lathers easily and the kettle never builds up any scale.

    UsageThe opposite is hard water.

    Oppositehard

    Note

    Water chemistry, judged at the sink. Water low in dissolved calcium and magnesium makes soap go further, so a household with soft water needs less of it. The word describes what is missing from the water, not how it feels. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Water low in dissolved calcium and magnesium requires less soap for cleaning than hard water. usgs.gov
15. 15
    adjective

    Of a photograph, lens, or focus, a little fuzzy and short on fine detail, at times intentionally to create a dreamy look.

    The cheap zoom lens is noticeably soft at the edges of the frame.

    The film's flashback scenes are shot in soft focus to suggest a half-remembered past.

    UsageCommon in soft focus and soft at the edges.

    Similarblurry, fuzzy, hazy

    Oppositesharp, crisp

16. 16
    non-addictiveadjective

    Of a drug, classed as less harmful and less likely to cause addiction than hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine.

    Many regard marijuana as a soft drug, unlikely to produce dependence.

    Public debate continues over whether soft drugs should be legal.

    UsageMostly in soft drugs, set against hard drugs.

    Oppositehard

17. 17
    slight (turn)adjective

    Bent at only a slight angle; not sharply turned.

    Follow the soft bend in the river until you reach the bridge.

    At the second light, take a soft left onto Maple Avenue and follow it past the school.

    UsageMostly in directions: a soft left, a soft right.

    Similargentle, slight, gradual, shallow

    Oppositesharp, tight, abrupt

    Note

    A word for directions and posture rather than geometry. Where two roads go left, the soft left is the gentler of the two turns. Dancers keep soft knees, slightly bent rather than straight. It marks a mild angle set against a sharper alternative, so it is most useful when two choices need telling apart.

18. 18
    buyers' marketadjective

    Of a market, having more supply than demand; favoring buyers over sellers.

    Analysts called the labor market soft, with applicants far outnumbering openings.

    A soft market gave buyers room to negotiate lower prices.

    Similarweak, slack, sluggish

    Oppositehard

    Note

    Finance describes markets by how much they give. In a soft market supply outruns demand, so terms tilt toward the buyer, and the antonym is hard. The 1995 U.S. Housing Market Conditions report calls a rental market soft alongside almost nonexistent permit activity. It is the plain vocabulary of market reporting. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The cited issue of U.S. Housing Market Conditions was published in 1995. huduser.gov
    • The report describes a soft rental market alongside almost nonexistent multifamily permit activity. huduser.gov
19. 19
    adjective

    Of c or g, sounded the way it is in city or gem, not the way it is in cat or go.

    In English spelling, c is usually soft before e, i, or y.

    Beginners often read "gem" with a hard g until a teacher points out that the g is soft.

    UsagePaired with hard: the soft c in city, the hard g in go.

    Oppositehard

    Note

    The letters c and g usually take their soft sounds before e, i and y, a spelling convention English inherited from Latin by way of French. C keeps to it closely (cent, city, cycle), but g breaks it often in everyday words such as get, give and girl. Hard and soft are old labels for both the letters and the sounds they stand for. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • English inherited the spelling convention from Latin. en.wikipedia.org
    • French transmitted the hard/soft c and g convention to English. en.wikipedia.org
    • Hard and soft are longstanding labels applied to c and its sounds. gutenberg.org
    • Hard and soft are longstanding labels applied to g and its sounds. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    virtualadjective

    Emulated in software rather than existing as physical hardware.

    The terminal uses a soft keyboard rendered on the touchscreen.

    Designers replaced the physical dials with soft controls on the panel.

    UsageGoes before the device it imitates: soft keyboard, soft phone.

    Similarvirtual, onscreen

    Oppositephysical, hard

    Note

    Computing uses the word for a device that exists only as software. A soft phone has an on-screen red button that hangs up a call just as a physical one would. Its opposite is the physical device itself. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A softphone can have an on-screen red button that ends a call. publicinternet.com
21. 21
    adjective

    Of pornographic material, featuring nudity or sexual suggestion but not explicit acts; softcore.

    The film was sold as soft porn, but critics said it was mostly a dull thriller with a few nude scenes.

    The director started out making soft porn for late-night cable before moving on to mainstream comedies.

    UsageUsually used in soft porn or soft pornography.

    Similarsoftcore, suggestive, tame

    Oppositehardcore, explicit

22. 22
    adjectiveUK

    Effeminate; lacking conventionally masculine qualities.

    In the mining town where he grew up, a boy who wrote poetry and skipped football was considered soft, not quite a proper lad.

    They saw his soft manner as a sign he lacked manliness.

    UsageUsually used as an insult toward a man or boy.

    Similareffeminate, unmanly, girlish

    Oppositemanly, masculine, macho

    Note

    A British judgment of a man's bearing, and one to use with care, since it measures him against a narrow idea of manliness. Jeremy Taylor in 1650 already links softness to self-indulgence, warning that sensual pleasures make a man's spirit "loose, soft, and wandering". The word is now often heard as derogatory. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The cited Jeremy Taylor passage comes from Holy Living, first published in 1650. celm.folger.edu
    • Taylor links sensual indulgence to spiritual softness and uses the exact words quoted. ccel.org
23. 23
    too caringadjectiveslang

    Overly empathetic or concerned with the wellbeing of others.

    His friends say he's gone soft, aching over every stranger's misfortune.

    She's far too soft to watch the news without tearing up.

    UsageOften too soft or gone soft.

    Similarsensitive, sentimental, tender-hearted

    Oppositecallous, hard-hearted, tough, hard

    Note

    Slang for a heart that gives way too readily. Someone too soft for the ruthless world of finance is too moved by other people to make hard calls. The word presents sympathy as a handicap rather than a virtue.

24. 24
    foolishadjectivecolloquialUK

    Lacking good sense; foolish.

    His gran told him he was soft for believing the rumor.

    Only a soft lad would hand over his wages without a second thought.

    UsageCommon phrases include soft lad and don't be soft. They can sound teasing or insulting, depending on context.

    Similardaft, silly, foolish, stupid

    Oppositesensible, shrewd, wise

    Note

    British colloquial for simple-minded, and older than it sounds. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) already ranks "soft fellows" one step short of "stark noddies". The word pictures a mind too yielding to hold firm. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The original Anatomy of Melancholy was first published in 1621. gutenberg.org
    • Burton uses 'soft fellows' and 'stark noddies', presenting the latter as a more extreme condition. gutenberg.org
25. 25
    adjective

    Of a ferromagnetic material, easily magnetized and just as easily demagnetized; having low coercivity.
26. 26
    noun

    In motor racing, a tire whose rubber compound sits between the medium and the supersoft: softer than the first, harder than the second.
27. 27
    adjective

    Of a consonant, pronounced with the vocal cords vibrating or with less force, as the th in "these."
28. 28
    adjectiverare

    Of a consonant, pronounced without the vocal cords vibrating, a less common use that is the reverse of the usual one.
29. 29
    adjective

    In Slavic languages, of a consonant, pronounced with the tongue raised toward the hard palate.
30. 30
    adjective

    Of paper, not treated with size, so that it soaks up ink.
31. 31
    adjective

    Of silk, washed so that its natural gum has been removed.
32. 32
    adjective

    Of coal, of the bituminous kind rather than the hard anthracite kind.
33. 33
    adjective

    Of weather, mild enough that snow and ice start to melt.
34. 34
    interjectionarchaic

    Used to tell someone to stop, wait or keep quiet.

    Soft, you; a word or two before you go. But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

    c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”
35. 35
    nounarchaic

    A silly, weak-minded person, a fool.

    It'll do you no good to sit in a spring-cart o' your own, if you've got a soft to drive you: he'll soon turn you over into the ditch.

    1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Adam Bede
36. 36
    nouncolloquial

    A gentle, low-volume sound, or the quieter portion of one.
37. 37
    noundated

    A computer program or app.

    Sega and third-party licensees are set to release an abundance of softs that range from intense shooters to sports to reflex-testers.

    December 1989, Electronic Gaming Monthly
38. 38
    nounobsoleteUK

    Paper money, as opposed to coins.
39. 39
    adverbobsolete

    In a gentle or quiet way, without harshness.

    A Knight soft ryding towards them they spyde

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene