soften up

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soften up

verb softens up · softening up · softened up

To make softer.
broadly, idiomatic To appease someone in order to make them more receptive to an idea or proposal.
Similar: to butter up
To become less committed to something. That was what Agnes thought at two o'clock in the afternoon, but by evening she had softened up some.

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MLA

"soften up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/soften%20up. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

soften up. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/soften%20up

Chicago

"soften up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/soften%20up.

BibTeX

@misc{soften_up_2026,
  title = {soften up},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/soften%20up},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}