Word.ws English Dictionary

soft-delete

soft-delete verb: to remove access to (a resource), without deleting the resource itself.

Verb

soft-delete (third-person singular simple present soft-deletes, present participle soft-deleting, simple past and past participle soft-deleted)

  1. (transitive) To remove access to (a resource), without deleting the resource itself.
    • That service was criticized for soft-deleting users' files without their knowledge, meaning they were still internally able to access everything.

Forms of soft-delete

third-person singular presentsoft-deletes
present participlesoft-deleting
past participlesoft-deleted
pastsoft-deleted
alternative formsoft delete
alternative formsoftdelete

Questions about soft-delete

What does soft-delete mean?
Soft-delete means to remove access to (a resource), without deleting the resource itself.
What part of speech is soft-delete?
Soft-delete is a verb.
What is the past tense of soft-delete?
The past tense of soft-delete is soft-deleted.

Words near soft-delete in the dictionary

  1. soft-cancel
  2. soft-close
  3. Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier
  4. Soft-coated Wheaten Terriers
  5. soft-core
  6. soft-delete
  7. soft-dotted
  8. soft-drinkless
  9. soft-float
  10. soft-gamma repeater
  11. soft-gamma repeaters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: soft-delete (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “soft-delete.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/soft-delete. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.