核心畫面
Something that was hard, stiff or rough gives way — butter left out of the fridge, onions going limp in the pan, dry skin after cream. Nothing is removed; the thing is still there, it just no longer resists you the way it did.
可以想成「原本硬邦邦、不肯讓步的東西開始鬆下來」：奶油放在室溫久了，刀子一劃就過去；洋蔥下鍋炒一炒，就垮成軟軟的；乾…更多收起
可以想成「原本硬邦邦、不肯讓步的東西開始鬆下來」：奶油放在室溫久了，刀子一劃就過去；洋蔥下鍋炒一炒，就垮成軟軟的；乾裂的皮膚抹了乳液，摸起來不再刮手。東西沒有消失，也沒有變少，只是它「頂回來」的那股力氣退掉了。soften 的每個用法都可以從這個「抵抗力退掉」的畫面長出來。原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
softenverb/ˈsɒfən/
- 1
To make something soft or softer.
- Soften the butter before beating in the sugar.
- 2
To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).
- Before the invasion, we softened up the enemy with the artillery.
- 3
To make less harsh.
- Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.
- I have recently reclad the south-west facing side of my single-storey cottage […]. I now want to plant some climbers of more manageable proportions to soften the building.
- 4
To become soft or softer.
- The butter softened as it warmed up.
- 5
human-scienceslinguisticsphonologyTo become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
- 6
To palatalize.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。