soften

About 1.95 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. verb To make something soft or softer.

   Soften the butter before beating in the sugar.

2. verb To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).

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

3. verb To make less harsh.

   Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.

4. verb To become soft or softer.

   The butter softened as it warmed up.

5. verb To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
6. verb To palatalize.

Similar words

moderate relent weaken break yield dampen damp cushion buffer mince

Often followed by

the and it his their them her up its

Word family

softened softener softeners softening softens