| • | To make soft or more soft. |
| • | To render less hard; -- said of matter. |
| • | To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable. |
| • | To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault. |
| • | To compose; to mitigate; to assuage. |
| • | To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive, or less violent, or to render of an opposite quality. |
| • | To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture. |
| • | To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury. |
| • | To make less harsh or grating, or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice. |
| • | To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate. |
