soften

Verb

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

   Synonyms:

   subdue, temper

4. (intransitive) To become soft or softer.
   • The butter softened as it warmed up.
5. (ambitransitive) To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
6. (Slavic phonology) To palatalize.