softness

From Middle English softnesse, from Old English sōftnes, alteration of earlier sēftnes. Equivalent to soft +‎ -ness.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔftnəs/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑftnəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒftnəs/

• Audio (US):

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softness (usually uncountable, plural softnesses)

1. The quality of being soft.
   • 1882, The Pall Mall Budget, page 9:

     […] the informal dressers, with their "divided skirts" and stealthy advances towards confessed trouserdom, are the strong-minded sisterhood, to whom the softnesses of sex are abominations […]

• hardness