(1):

(v. t.) To render less hard; - said of matter.

(2):

(v. t.) To make soft or more soft.

(3):

(v. i.) To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate.

(4):

(v. t.) To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury.

(5):

(v. t.) To compose; to mitigate; to assuage.

(6):

(v. t.) To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive, or less violent, or to render of an opposite quality.

(7):

(v. t.) To make less harsh or grating, or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice.

(8):

(v. t.) To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable.

(9):

(v. t.) To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault.

(10):

(v. t.) To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture.