soft

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“
As for the decline in American soft power, that is something for which George Bush was directly to blame.

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Definitions (102)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (30)

  1. adjective Easily molded, cut, or worked.
  2. adjective Yielding readily to pressure or weight.
  3. adjective Out of condition; flabby.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (48)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (20)

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Examples (45)

  • Then they drew up short at the sound that suddenly floated in the night air It was a trilling--soft, almost musical; it was difficult to locate the source of the unusual tone But Monk recognized it. —  090 - Tunnel Terror
  • Bush's secretary of defense, who in the past year gave a series of speeches calling for a dramatic increase in American soft power. —  SFGate: Top News Stories
  • When poll respondents are asked why they report a decline in American soft power, they cite American policies more than American culture or values. —  Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Latest Publications
  • As for the decline in American soft power, that is something for which George Bush was directly to blame. —  RVABlogs
  • The other stock-specific news of the day related to fruit and vegetable distributor Total Produce which announced that it has bought a 50 per cent stake in Dutch soft fruit business ASF Holland. —  ireland.com Breaking News
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

warm ·  smooth ·  faint

Used in the same contextWord Family

soft:   softer ·  softest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, pleasant, calm, from Old English sōfte.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English soft, softe, from Anglo-Saxon sōfte, sēfte = Old Saxon sāfti = Middle Dutch sacht, saecht, Dutch zacht = Middle Low German Low German sacht (later G. sacht) = Old High German semfti, Middle High German semfte, senfte, German sanft, soft (see the adverb); perhaps akin to Gothic (Moesogothic) samjan, please: see seem, same. For the D. and Low German forms, which have ch for f, cf. similar forms of shaft, shaft.
  2. from Middle English softe, from Anglo-Saxon sōfte = Old Saxon sāfto = Old High German samfto, sanfto, Middle High German samfte, sanfte, German sanft, softly; from the adjective
  3. An elliptical use of soft, adv.
  4. from Middle English soften, softien (= Middle Low German sachten), soften; from soft, adjective
 

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/sɔft/
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