noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One who, or that which, softens.; A water softener.
2. 2
   a substance added to another to make it less hard wordnet
3. 3
   One who, or that which, softens.; Fabric softener.
4. 4
   One who, or that which, softens.; A substance added to make something softer.

Example

More examples

"Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener."

Etymology

From Middle English softener, equivalent to soften + -er.

Related phrases

stool softenerfabric softenerwater softener

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