英和和英

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sŏfʹen, IPA: /ˈsɒfən/
• (米国発音, dialectal, lot–cloth split) enPR: sôfʹen, IPA: /ˈsɔf(t)ən/,
• (cot–caught merger, General American, dialects of Canada) IPA: /ˈsɑf(t)ən/, enPR: sŏfʹen
• (Canada, dialects of the 米国発音) enPR: sŏfʹen, IPA: /ˈsɒfən/
• (General Australian) enPR: sôfʹen, IPA: /ˈsɔfən/
• (New Zealand) enPR: sŏfʹen, IPA: /ˈsɒfən/, [ˈsɔ̟fən]

動詞

soften (third-person singular simple present softens, present participle softening, simple past and past participle softened)

1. (transitive) To make something soft or softer.

   Soften the butter before beating in the sugar.

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

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

3. (transitive) To make less harsh.

   Synonyms: subdue, temper

   Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.

   • 2015 February 7, Helen Yemm, “Thorny problems: How can I soften a brick wall with plants?”, in The Daily Telegraph (London)‎, page G7:

     I have recently reclad the south-west facing side of my single-storey cottage […] . I now want to plant some climbers of more manageable proportions to soften the building.

4. (intransitive) To become soft or softer.

   The butter softened as it warmed up.

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

派生語

参考

• mollify
• neshen

アナグラム

• Sefton