soft
Soft things are fluffy or yielding to the touch. A kitten’s fur and your favorite fleece pajama pants are soft. So is spreadable cheese or the spongy ground of a wet field.
A soft voice is gentle, and a soft light or color is subdued or muted. A table with soft edges is rounded instead of sharp-cornered. Soft rain is mild. No matter how the adjective soft is used, it’s always the opposite of words like hard, loud, bright or stubborn. It comes from a Germanic root that means “level, even, smooth, or gentle.”
yielding readily to pressure or weight
-
Synonyms:
-
brushed, fleecy, napped(of fabrics) having soft nap produced by brushing
-
cheeselikehaving the consistency of cheese
-
compressible, squeezablecapable of being easily compressed
-
cottonyresembling cotton; as soft as cotton
-
cushioned, cushiony, paddedsoftened by the addition of cushions or padding
-
demulcent, emollient, salving, softeninghaving a softening or soothing effect especially to the skin
-
downlike, downy, flossy, fluffylike down or as soft as down
-
flacciddrooping without elasticity; wanting in stiffness
-
flocculent, woolly, woolyhaving a fluffy character or appearance
-
yieldinglacking stiffness and giving way to pressure
-
mushyhaving the consistency of mush
-
overstuffedupholstered thickly and deeply
-
semisoft, softishsomewhat soft
-
spongelike, spongy, squashy, squishyeasily squashed; resembling a sponge in having soft porous texture and compressibility
-
velvet, velvetyresembling velvet in having a smooth soft surface
-
Antonyms:
-
hardresisting weight or pressure
-
adamantinehaving the hardness of a diamond
-
al dentecooked so as to be firm when eaten
-
corneous, hornlike, hornymade of horn (or of a substance resembling horn)
-
firm, solidnot soft or yielding to pressure
-
granitelike, granitic, rocklike, stonyhard as granite
-
hardened, setconverted to solid form (as concrete)
-
woodymade hard like wood as the result of the deposition of lignin in the cell walls
-
petrous, stonelike(of bone especially the temporal bone) resembling stone in hardness
-
semihardsomewhat hard
-
steelyresembling steel in hardness
-
unyieldingresistant to physical force or pressure
- show more antonyms…
-
brushed, fleecy, napped
having little impact
not burdensome or demanding; borne or done easily and without hardship
out of condition; not strong or robust; incapable of exertion or endurance
easily hurt
not protected against attack (especially by nuclear weapons)
“soft targets”-
Antonyms:
-
hardenedprotected against attack (especially by nuclear weapons)
-
hardened
in a relaxed manner; or without hardship
-
synonyms:
easycompassionate and kind; conciliatory
“he was
soft on his children”-
Synonyms:
-
mellowhaving attained to kindliness or gentleness through age and experience
-
tendergiven to sympathy or gentleness or sentimentality
-
warmheartedmarked by warmth of feeling like kindness and sympathy and generosity
-
Antonyms:
-
harddispassionate
-
difficult, hardnot easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
-
calculating, calculative, conniving, scheming, shrewdacting in a selfish scheming way
-
case-hardened, hard-boiled, hardenedused of persons; emotionally hardened
-
steelyresembling steel as in hardness
-
merciless, unmercifulhaving or showing no mercy
-
insensitivedeficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive
-
toughnot given to gentleness or sentimentality
- show more antonyms…
-
mellow
willing to negotiate and compromise
-
Synonyms:
-
conciliative, conciliatoryintended to placate
-
conciliative, conciliatory
tolerant or lenient
“too
soft on the children”“they are
soft on crime”-
permissivegranting or inclined or able to grant permission; not strict in discipline
-
permissive
soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe
mild and pleasant
(of sound) relatively low in volume
“soft voices”“soft music”-
Synonyms:
-
dull, muffled, muted, softenedbeing or made softer or less loud or clear
-
euphonious(of speech or dialect) pleasing in sound; not harsh or strident
-
gentlequiet and soothing
-
hushed, muted, quiet, subduedin a softened tone
-
little, small(of a voice) faint
-
low, low-tonedvery low in volume
-
murmuring, susurrant, whisperingmaking a low continuous indistinct sound
-
murmurous, rustling, soughing, susurrouscharacterized by soft sounds
-
soft-footedsound of quiet gentle steps
-
soft-spokenhaving a speaking manner that is not loud or harsh
-
quietfree of noise or uproar; or making little if any sound
-
Antonyms:
-
loudcharacterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity
-
audible, hearableheard or perceptible by the ear
-
bigloud and firm
-
blaring, blastingunpleasantly loud and penetrating
-
clarionloud and clear
-
deafening, earsplitting, thunderous, thunderyloud enough to cause (temporary) hearing loss
-
earthshakingloud enough to shake the very earth
-
harsh-voicedhaving an unusually harsh sound
-
loud-mouthedgiven to loud offensive talk
-
loud-voicedhaving an unusually loud voice
-
shatteringseemingly loud enough to break something; violently rattling or clattering
-
shouted, yelledin a vehement outcry
-
trumpet-likeresembling the sound of a trumpet
-
vocalfull of the sound of voices
-
noisyfull of or characterized by loud and nonmusical sounds
- show more antonyms…
-
dull, muffled, muted, softened
used chiefly as a direction or description in music
-
synonyms:
piano-
pianissimochiefly a direction or description in music; very soft
-
pianissimo assaichiefly a direction or description in music; very soft
-
Antonyms:
-
forte, loudused chiefly as a direction or description in music
-
fortementechiefly a direction or description in music; loud and strong
-
fortissimochiefly a direction or description in music
- show more antonyms…
-
pianissimo
(of light) transmitted from a broad light source or reflected
-
Antonyms:
-
concentrated, hard(of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source
-
concentrated, hard
not brilliant or glaring
produced with vibration of the vocal cords
(of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward the hard palate; characterized by a hissing or hushing sound (as `s’ and `sh’)
-
Synonyms:
-
continuant, fricative, sibilant, spirant, stridentof speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f’, `s’, `z’, or `th’ in both `thin’ and `then’)
-
palatal, palatalised, palatalizedproduced with the front of the tongue near or touching the hard palate (as `y’) or with the blade of the tongue near the hard palate (as `ch’ in `chin’ or `j’ in `gin’)
-
Antonyms:
-
hard(of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum
-
velarproduced with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate (as `k’ in `cat’ and `g’ in `gun’ and `ng’ in `sing’)
- show more antonyms…
-
continuant, fricative, sibilant, spirant, strident
(of a commodity or market or currency) falling or likely to fall in value
“the market for computers is
soft”-
Synonyms:
-
fallingbecoming lower or less in degree or value
-
falling
using evidence not readily amenable to experimental verification or refutation