Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

soften up

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.36 in modern English

Syllables
soft-en up
IPA
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To make softer.

verb

To appease someone in order to make them more receptive to an idea or proposal.

verb

To become less committed to something.

Example Sentences

Inflected Forms

softens up (present, singular) softening up (participle, present) softened up (participle, past) softened up (past)

Phrases

soften up the ground

Synonyms

to butter up

Questions

What does soften up mean?
To make softer.

How to pronounce soften up

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “soften up”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “soften up”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “soften up” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.