Velvety means soft and smooth in the particular rich, deep way velvet is — and English lets you use it for four different senses. Touch: velvety skin, the velvety leaves of a plant, a dog's velvety ears. Taste and mouth-feel: a velvety soup, a velvety chocolate sauce, a velvety red wine — here it means thick and smooth with no rough or sharp edge, and it is one of the most common words on menus and wine labels. Sound: a velvety voice, low, warm and easy to listen to. Look: velvety darkness, a velvety black sky — deep, soft, with no hard shine. It is always a compliment; there is no unkind use of it. It is a normal adjective: more velvety, the most velvety (people rarely say 'velvetier', though you will occasionally see it).