as in hard-core
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Recent Examples of soft-core
This is the character most relatable to the man who founded a media company whose sole purpose was to manipulate women into taking their tops off and engage in soft-core pornography on camera and cut them out of the earnings.
—
Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024
Ranking Coppola’s 23 features — his 1962 soft-core Tonight for Sure is not included, nor is his misbegotten New York Stories short feature or the Disney attraction Captain EO — was a difficult proposition.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
The agencies that dole out state money to public charger companies — the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission — have taken a soft-core approach to holding the companies responsible.
—Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2024
Their intercourse isn’t soft-core like Bound but features Marian’s shy, sly, self-consciousness.
—Armond White, National Review, 31 July 2024
The interstitial clips are sequences of near-naked or topless women caressing themselves to a soft-core soundtrack.
—E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2024
Plastered around New York City, the soft-core promo had pedestrians doing double takes.
—Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 4 Oct. 2023
This makes the show feel like classic late-night premium-television soft-core, the stuff that comes up when people reduce the complexity of Euphoria or Trilogy to the wildest pull quote or plot point.
—Vulture, 30 June 2023
Such themes are dismissed as the stuff of romance novels and soft-core illustration.
—Vulture, 20 Mar. 2023
Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024
Ranking Coppola’s 23 features — his 1962 soft-core Tonight for Sure is not included, nor is his misbegotten New York Stories short feature or the Disney attraction Captain EO — was a difficult proposition.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
The agencies that dole out state money to public charger companies — the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission — have taken a soft-core approach to holding the companies responsible.
—Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2024
Their intercourse isn’t soft-core like Bound but features Marian’s shy, sly, self-consciousness.
—Armond White, National Review, 31 July 2024
The interstitial clips are sequences of near-naked or topless women caressing themselves to a soft-core soundtrack.
—E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2024
Plastered around New York City, the soft-core promo had pedestrians doing double takes.
—Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 4 Oct. 2023
This makes the show feel like classic late-night premium-television soft-core, the stuff that comes up when people reduce the complexity of Euphoria or Trilogy to the wildest pull quote or plot point.
—Vulture, 30 June 2023
Such themes are dismissed as the stuff of romance novels and soft-core illustration.
—Vulture, 20 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for soft-core
Adjective
-
The soccer purists in the London club’s end were surely aghast at the playing of music to celebrate a goal – another very American trend that has increasingly been used by clubs around the world, much to the chagrin of hardcore supporters.—
Kyle Feldscher,
CNN Money,
20 June 2025
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He was recently nominated for his clothed work in the feature length hardcore film Birth.—
Allen Salkin,
HollywoodReporter,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Studios is out with Alicia Silverstone in erotic thriller Pretty Thing as a successful executive in a torrid affair with a younger man (Karl Glusman) who becomes obsessed with her.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
3 July 2025
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The expansion of the genre tracks the broadening acceptability of erotic inclinations that were previously pathologized (and, at times, criminalized).—
Lily Burana,
The Atlantic,
1 July 2025
Adjective
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Why 'Shrinking' Is a Parents-Only Watch The themes, relationships, and conversations in this show are primarily adult in nature.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
27 Feb. 2025
-
The next decades will witness, for the first time, the full impact of one-child families on adult Chinese society.—
Henry A. Kissinger,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Mar. 2012
Adjective
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According to costume designer Joanna Johnston, this was a compromise; director Richard Curtis had envisioned a sexier, barer outfit.—
James Mercadante,
EW.com,
17 June 2025
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According to consumer insight company OnePoll, the original television commercial with Gandy was considered one of the sexiest of all time in a study published in 2008.—
Renan Botelho,
Footwear News,
16 May 2025
Adjective
-
While Baekhyun’s chocolate-brown hair during the Essence of Reverie promotions lent him a mature air, the tour’s platinum blonde hue underscored his playful spirit, one that shone with every wide-eyed glance and genuine laugh.—
Jeff Benjamin,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
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Bomberman: Act Zero (2006) is one of the greatest cautionary tales about how slapping a more mature coat of paint on a classic character can end up tarnishing an entire franchise.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
24 June 2025
Adjective
-
For the first seven years of the rating system (1969-1975), nearly half of the top films (33 of 70) were R- or X-rated.—
Tom Brueggemann,
IndieWire,
26 July 2024
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What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated.—
Rebecca Ritzel,
Washington Post,
13 Feb. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Soft-core.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/soft-core. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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