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softener

noun

Simple meaning

A liquid or powder that makes clothes feel soft.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sawfuhner

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɔfənɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Fabric softener.

  2. One who, or that which, softens.

  3. A water softener.

Word at a Glance

Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Fabric

fabric softener

Water

water softener

Other combinations

stool softenerskin softenersoftener sheetzeolite softenerprocess softenersoda softener

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • softenverbBase word

    Make (images or sounds) soft or softer.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • water softenernounCompound term

    A substance (such as sodium chloride) that lessens the hardness of water by replacing calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions and so gives the water more efficient sudsing power.

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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.