Main vs Soft - What's the difference?
main | soft |
(label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.
* (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.
* (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
* , chapter=7
, title= *{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5
, passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}
Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:
(label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
(label) Big; angry.
Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.
* 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :
* 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :
* Spenser
That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.
* Francis Bacon
* 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :
* Francis Bacon
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:
* 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):
* 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :
* Dryden
A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.
(label) The mainsail.
A hand or match in a game of dice.
A stake played for at dice.
* Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV
The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
A match at cockfighting.
* Thackeray
A main-hamper, or fruit basket.
Easily giving way under pressure.
(of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
* Bible, Matt. xi. 8
Gentle.
* Shakespeare
* Tyndale
Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
* Bible, Proverbs xv. 1
* Wordsworth
Gentle in action or motion; easy.
* Milton
Weak in character; impressible.
* Glanvill
Requiring little or no effort; easy.
Not bright or intense.
(of a road intersection) Having an acute angle.
(of a sound) Quiet.
* Shakespeare
(linguistics) voiced, sonant
(linguistics, rare) voiceless
(linguistics, Slavic languages) palatalized
(slang) Lacking strength or resolve, wimpy.
(of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.
(UK, colloquial) Foolish.
* Burton
(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.
(UK, of a man) Effeminate.
* Jeremy Taylor
Agreeable to the senses.
* Milton
Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye.
* Sir Thomas Browne
(archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.
* Shakespeare
(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.
As nouns the difference between main and soft
is that main is while soft is a soft or foolish person; an idiot.As an adjective soft is
easily giving way under pressure.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.main
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).Adjective
(-)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
George Goodchild
Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
Derived terms
* main drag * main roadAdverb
(en adverb)Etymology 2
From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "main")Derived terms
{{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}Etymology 3
; compare (manual).Noun
(en noun)- (Prior)
- (Thackeray)
- (Ainsworth)
Statistics
*Anagrams
*External links
* 1000 English basic words ----soft
English
Adjective
(er)- My head sank easily into the soft pillow.
- Polish the silver with a soft cloth to avoid scratching.
- soft''' silk; a '''soft skin
- They that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
- There was a soft breeze blowing.
- I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's; / Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine.
- The meek or soft shall inherit the earth.
- soft eyes
- A soft answer turneth away wrath.
- A face with gladness overspread, / Soft smiles, by human kindness bred.
- On her soft axle, white she paces even, / And bears thee soft with the smooth air along.
- The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
- a soft job
- soft lighting
- At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the soft left.
- I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
- Her voice was ever soft , / Gentle, and low, — an excellent thing in woman.
- DH represents the voiced (soft)'' th ''of English these clothes. —
- When it comes to drinking, he is as soft as they come.
- You won't need as much soap, as the water here is very soft .
- He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad.
- The admin imposed a soft''' block/ban on the user or a '''soft lock on the article.
- A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft , and wandering.
- a soft liniment
- soft wines
- the soft , delicious air
- soft colours
- the soft outline of the snow-covered hill
- 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, stupidAntonyms
* (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) sensibleDerived 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 * softySee also
* mollifyInterjection
(en interjection)- Soft , you; a word or two before you go.
- But, soft ! What light through yonder window breaks?