soft-soap
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To try to persuade by flattery or pleasing words.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sawftsohpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɔftsoʊp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
informalidiomatictransitive
To attempt to persuade by flattery or pleasing words; to butter up.
informalidiomatictransitive
Persuade someone through flattery
noun
Persuasion by means of flattery or pleasing words.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To attempt to persuade by flattery or pleasing words; to butter up.
Used this way, soft-soap is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.