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