soft

CEFRA1

/sɒft/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Easy to press, cut, or bend; not hard.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.

Examples

  • The air is soft, the soil moist.

  • The candle's flame is flickering in the soft breeze.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Easily giving way under pressure.

  2. Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.

  3. Gentle in action or motion; easy.

More examples

In context

  • My muscles have become soft.

  • My head sank easily into the soft pillow.

  • Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte, alteration of earlier sēfte (“soft”), from Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) (“level, even, smooth, soft, gentle”) (compare *sōmiz (“agreeable, fitting”)), from Proto-Indo-European *semptio-, *semtio-, from *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate with West Frisian sêft (“gentle; soft”), Dutch zacht (“soft”), German Low German sacht (“soft”), German sanft (“soft, yielding”), Old Norse sœmr (“agreeable, fitting”), samr (“same”). More at seem, same.