softly
/ˈsɔftli/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
cot caught merger/ˈsɑftli/
softly adverb: in a soft manner; gently.
Adverb
softly (comparative softlier or more softly, superlative softliest or most softly)
- In a soft manner; gently.
- The masseuse was rubbing my back too softly for my liking, so I asked her to go harder.
- He had married a lady well educated and softly nurtured, but not dowered with worldly wealth. […] They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
- Not loudly; nearly inaudibly.
- whisper softly in someone's ear
- play music softly
- With subdued color; faded or misty with distance.
- And they sat very still, the two of them, and looked out over that great, beautiful desert—away to the home mesa that they could see, softly blue, in the distance.1928, Grace Moon, “VII. The Tale of the Sacred Eagle”, in The Runaway Papoose
softly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
softly in Hindi
- softly
- हौले haule
- softly, quietly
- हौले-हौले haule-haule
softly in Tamil
- மென்மையாக, கவனமாக
softly in Urdu
- softly, gently
- آہستہ āhista
softly in Telugu
- softly, gently
- మెత్తగా mettagā
More languagesFewer languages
- softly in Malayalam
- മാർദ്ദവത്തോടെ, സാവധാനത്തിൽ, കോമളമായി, ശാന്തമായി
- softly in Kannada
- ಮೃದುವಾಗಿ
- softly in Odia
- କୋମଳ ଭାବେ
- softly in Sanskrit
- नीचैस् nīcáis
- softly in Assamese
- লাহে লাহে lahe lahe
- softly in Myanmar
- တိုးတိုး tui:tui:
Examples of softly in a sentence
- Solid bodies, if they be very softly percussed, give no sound.
- You must drag your finger softly along the mouse wing from back to front.
- “There is a man who must be chastised,” she says softly, lightly.
Forms of softly
| comparative | softlier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more softly |
| superlative | softliest |
| superlative | most softly |
Origin of softly
From Middle English softely, softeliche, equivalent to soft + -ly.
Words formed from softly
Phrases with softly
Questions about softly
- What does softly mean?
- Softly means in a soft manner; gently.
- What is softly in Hindi?
- Softly in Hindi is हौले (haule), हौले-हौले (haule-haule). See Softly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is softly?
- Softly is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce softly?
- Softly is pronounced /ˈsɔftli/ (US).
Words near softly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: softly (page history and authors); हौले (Hindi) (page history and authors); softly (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); آہستہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); softly (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); softly (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); softly (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); नीचैस् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); লাহে লাহে (Assamese) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-softly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “softly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/softly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.