soft
part of speech
adjective (soft, softer, softest); adverb softly
meaning for a pupil
1) Not hard or firm; easy to press or bend: a soft pillow. tree →
2) Smooth and nice to touch: soft fur. tree →
3) Quiet and gentle: a soft voice, soft music. tree →
4) Not bright: soft light. tree →
5) Kind and gentle, or too easy on people: soft on rules. tree →
6) Soft drinks: drinks without alcohol. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science: materials can be hard or soft; soft materials (cotton, wool, sponge) bend or squash; testing materials for a job. In stories: soft voices and soft light make calm scenes. In everyday life: soft toys, soft drinks (fizzy or sweet drinks). Phrases: soft toy, soft drink, soft voice, soft spot for, soft-boiled egg, softly spoken.
examples
- The kitten has soft fur. tree →
- My pillow is soft. tree →
- She spoke in a soft voice. tree →
- Clay is soft before it dries. tree →
- Butter goes soft in the sun. tree →
- I sleep with my soft toy. tree →
- Sponge is a soft material. tree →
- Grandpa has a soft spot for our dog. tree →
- Too many soft drinks are bad for your teeth. tree →
- Then a soft voice cried from the parlour: tree →
note
Comparisons: softer, softest. Opposites: hard (material), loud (sound), rough (touch). «Soften» (the t is silent) = to make soft.
In the corpora
- Blowing too hard makes a recorder jump up to a shrill squeal; a soft, steady breath gives a clear note.
- Recorder players cover the holes with the soft, flat pads of their fingers, because hard fingertips leave gaps that make squeaks.
- Tigers greet friends with a soft puffing sound called chuffing, or prusten; they can roar too, but chuffing is for friends.
- Owl wing feathers have comb-like front edges, soft fringes and a velvety surface that muffle the sound of flying.
- Real roadrunners do not say «meep meep»; they make soft cooing sounds and loud rattles by clattering their beaks.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «soft» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.