soft-soap 1 of 2

soft soap

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noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of soft-soap
Verb
President Donald Trump must stop begging and soft-soaping Vladimir Putin and use our military might to force him to give up his designs upon Ukraine and its neighbors. Chicago Tribune, 19 May 2025 So do her successes in soft-soaping some recalcitrant senators into supporting the mission’s funding. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 July 2024
Noun
People should wash any skin that comes into contact with the slurry with water and soft soap, before using a hand cream to avoid dryness and cracking. Lauren Penington, The Denver Post, 2 Sep. 2024 Most of the questions aimed at the ironic American director of Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas were less softballs than soft soap, with reporters as interested in Scorsese’s favorite food — his mother’s lasagna recipe — as the movies in his peerless filmography. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Feb. 2024 Founder and creative director Joy Cho’s lifestyle brand offers whimsical products, spanning bandages to soft soap, as well as regular editorial content online. Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2021 For spills or stains, spot cleaning with soft soap like Zero or Woolite. Rachel Klein, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2021 Later, barber is seen crouching on his bed, holding lighted match under jam jar of water, soft soap and boot blacking. Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 25 May 2020 Potassium hydroxide, on the other hand, produces an easily soluble soft soap. C. Claiborne Ray, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for soft-soap
Verb
  • Grace is not weakness but resolve, the Charleston families believed, and politics, too, depends on a willingness to coax one another toward better ground.
    David Remnick, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2025
  • After two decades, his estranged brother, Jem (Sean Bean), seeks out Ray at his remote cabin home and attempts to coax him back into the world.
    Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Those harmonies — simultaneously honeyed and gravelly, providing just enough support without overshadowing, yet so powerful and full of potential — echoes Whitten.
    Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2024
  • Enjoy flavored nuts, such as those that are candied, glazed, or honied, in moderation.
    Selene Yeager, Health, 24 Feb. 2024
Noun
  • Dessert options include classics like butter cake, chocolate cake and key lime pie.
    Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The classic diner serves huge portions of affordable fare that tastes like your grandmother made it, including stacks of pancakes slathered in butter and maple syrup and omelets crammed with fresh ingredients.
    Nora Heston Tarte, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The bamboo is wedged into a workbench, the chef drapes one leg over the far end, and bounces up and down to massage the dough.
    Kim Kay, Travel + Leisure, 14 Sep. 2025
  • According to Better Not Younger, massage the serum onto the scalp for two to three minutes once daily.
    Kiana Murden, Vogue, 12 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Don’t fall for compliments that don’t feel genuine, and don’t be afraid to confront whatever’s beneath someone’s sweet talk.
    Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
  • The odds are that such sweet talk is going to inevitably run out or at least be intermittent.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Cozens’ former teammate Kyle Okposo took to Cozens right away, even commending the youngster for his leadership skills.
    Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Carrie Severino, president of the conservative advocacy group Judicial Crisis Network, told the Washington Examiner that clearer emergency docket orders can help stop issues from returning to the docket, while commending the justices for taking up the FTC firing case.
    Jack Birle, The Washington Examiner, 23 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The routine earned enthusiastic praise from all three judges.
    Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
  • As the sweetly melodic ballad tapers, a gentle beat kicks in and Carey vocalizes words of religious praise over a syncopated coda for the last two minutes, her five-octave voice punctuating her patented melismatic style.
    Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The result is sometimes overpraising, overprotection, and overindulging children, mixing emotional intensity with economic privilege in ways that breed entitlement.
    Christine Michel Carter, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Know-nothings pretend that Schrader’s Bressonian mannerisms reveal the spiritual depths of contemporary crisis, when, in fact, Master Gardener repeats the same social-collapse paranoia that made secular reviewers overpraise the religious, racial, suicide-bomber topics of First Reformed.
    Armond White, National Review, 24 May 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Soft-soap.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/soft-soap. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.

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