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Erect vs Soft - What's the difference?

erect | soft |

As adjectives the difference between erect and soft

is that erect is upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards while soft is easily giving way under pressure.

As a verb erect

is to put up by the fitting together of materials or parts.

As an interjection soft is

(archaic) be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.

As an adverb soft is

(lb) softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.

As a noun soft is

a soft or foolish person; an idiot.

erect

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Upright; vertical or reaching broadly upwards.
  • * Gibbon
    • Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect — a column of ruins.
  • Rigid, firm; standing out perpendicularly.
  • (obsolete) Bold; confident; free from depression; undismayed.
  • * Keble
    • But who is he, by years / Bowed, but erect in heart?
  • (obsolete) Directed upward; raised; uplifted.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • His piercing eyes, erect , appear to view / Superior worlds, and look all nature through.
  • Watchful; alert.
  • * Hooker
    • vigilant and erect attention of mind
  • (heraldry) Elevated, as the tips of wings, heads of serpents, etc.

    • Antonyms

    * flaccid

    Derived terms

    * erection * semierect

    Related terms

    * erection * erectile

    Verb

  • To put up by the fitting together of materials or parts.
    • to erect a house or a fort
  • To cause to stand up or out.
  • To raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position; to set upright; to raise.
    • to erect a pole, a flagstaff, a monument, etc.
  • To lift up; to elevate; to exalt; to magnify.
  • * Daniel
    • that didst his state above his hopes erect
  • * Dryden
    • I, who am a party, am not to erect myself into a judge.
  • To animate; to encourage; to cheer.
  • * Barrow
    • It raiseth the dropping spirit, erecting it to a loving complaisance.
  • (astrology) To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.).
  • * 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 332:
    • In 1581 Parliament made it a statutory felony to erect figures, cast nativities, or calculate by prophecy how long the Queen would live or who would succeed her.
  • To set up as an assertion or consequence from premises, etc.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • to erect conclusions.
  • * John Locke
    • Malebranche erects this proposition.
  • To set up or establish; to found; to form; to institute.
  • * Hooker
    • to erect a new commonwealth

    Synonyms

    * build

    Anagrams

    * *

    soft

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Easily giving way under pressure.
    • My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
  • (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
    • Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.
    soft''' silk; a '''soft skin
  • * Bible, Matt. xi. 8
    • They that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
  • Gentle.
    • There was a soft breeze blowing.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's; / Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine.
  • * Tyndale
    • The meek or soft shall inherit the earth.
  • Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
    • soft eyes
  • * Bible, Proverbs xv. 1
    • A soft answer turneth away wrath.
  • * Wordsworth
    • A face with gladness overspread, / Soft smiles, by human kindness bred.
  • Gentle in action or motion; easy.
  • * Milton
    • On her soft axle, white she paces even, / And bears thee soft with the smooth air along.
  • Weak in character; impressible.
  • * Glanvill
    • The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
  • Requiring little or no effort; easy.
    • a soft job
  • Not bright or intense.
    • soft lighting
  • (of a road intersection) Having an acute angle.
    • At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the soft left.
  • (of a sound) Quiet.
    • I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Her voice was ever soft , / Gentle, and low, — an excellent thing in woman.
  • (linguistics) voiced, sonant
    • DH represents the voiced (soft)'' th ''of English these clothes. —
  • (linguistics, rare) voiceless
  • (linguistics, Slavic languages) palatalized
  • (slang) Lacking strength or resolve, wimpy.
    • When it comes to drinking, he is as soft as they come.
  • (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
    • You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft .
  • (UK, colloquial) Foolish.
  • * Burton
    • He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad.
  • (physics) Of a ferromagnetic material; a material that becomes essentially non magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed, a material with a low magnetic coercivity. (compare hard)
  • (of a person) Physically or emotionally weak.
  • Incomplete, or temporary; not a full action.
    • The admin imposed a soft''' block/ban on the user or a '''soft lock on the article.
  • (UK, of a man) Effeminate.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft , and wandering.
  • Agreeable to the senses.
    • a soft liniment
    soft wines
  • * Milton
    • the soft , delicious air
  • Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye.
    • soft colours
    the soft outline of the snow-covered hill
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds made the softest lights imaginable.

    Synonyms

    * (of a cloth) non-abrasive, fluffy * (gentle) gentle, light, nesh * (of a sound) quiet * (lacking strength or resolve) meek, mild, wimpy, nesh * (foolish) daft, foolish, silly, stupid

    Antonyms

    * (giving way under pressure) hard, resistant, solid, stony * (of a cloth) abrasive, scratchy * (gentle) harsh, rough, strong * (acute) hard * (of a sound) loud * (lacking strength or resolve) firm, strict, tough * (of water) hard * (foolish) sensible

    Derived terms

    * soft-boiled * soft copy * soft drink * soften * soft focus * soft-hearted * softly * softness * soft on * soft palate * soft power * soft science fiction * soft serve * soft shoe * soft soap * soft-spoken * soft touch * soft toy * software * softwood * softy

    See also

    * mollify

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Soft , you; a word or two before you go.
    But, soft ! What light through yonder window breaks?

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (lb) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:A knight soft riding toward them.
  • *
  • *:There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A soft or foolish person; an idiot.
    • (George Eliot)

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----