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soften

Pronunciation: /ˈsɒfən/

The English word “soften” has 6 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make something soft or softer.
  2. To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).
  3. To make less harsh.
  4. To become soft or softer.
  5. To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
  6. To palatalize.

Etymology

From Middle English softenen, softnen, equivalent to soft + -en.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.