Soften

//ˈsɒfən// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make something soft or softer. transitive

    "Soften the butter before beating in the sugar."

  2. 2
    become soft or softer wordnet
  3. 3
    To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up). transitive

    "Before the invasion, we softened up the enemy with the artillery."

  4. 4
    make soft or softer wordnet
  5. 5
    To make less harsh. transitive

    "Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism."

Show 8 more definitions
  1. 6
    lessen in force or effect wordnet
  2. 7
    To become soft or softer. intransitive

    "The butter softened as it warmed up."

  3. 8
    make less severe or harsh wordnet
  4. 9
    To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite. ambitransitive
  5. 10
    protect from impact wordnet
  6. 11
    To palatalize.
  7. 12
    make (images or sounds) soft or softer wordnet
  8. 13
    give in, as to influence or pressure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
cushiondampenminceyieldabateabsorb the shock

Example

More examples

"What can cheer up, soften, color everything - a big love."

Etymology

From Middle English softenen, softnen, equivalent to soft + -en.

Related phrases

soften someone's coughsoften the blowsoften the groundsoften upsoften up the ground

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.