- (v.i.) To become soft or softened or less rude, harsh, severe or obdurate.
- (v.t.) To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable.
- (v.t.) To compose; to mitigate; to assuage.
- (v.t.) To make soft or more soft.
- (v.t.) To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault.
- (v.t.) To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture.
- (v.t.) To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury.
- (v.t.) To make less harsh or grating or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice.
- (v.t.) To render less hard; -- said of matter.
- (v.t.) To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive or less violent or to render of an opposite quality.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). soften. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/soften/definitions/2063680 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "soften" http://smartdefine.org/soften/definitions/2063680 (accessed September 23, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, soften, Smart Define, viewed 23 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/soften/definitions/2063680>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "soften" 28 May 2011. Web. 23 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/soften/definitions/2063680> |