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Glite Dictionary
😏 Insincere praise 🧴 A mild soap
soft soap

soft soap

3.7
A mild soap made from plant oils for sensitive skin
  • noun
  • /sɔft soʊp/
translation icon : jabón suave
  • After consulting the online guide, I decided to use a natural soft soap made from olive oil.

Examples

  • The dermatologist recommended a soft soap to help with my dry skin condition.

  • I have not made homemade soap for years, and the recipe I used was for a soft soap using rendered lard and lye.

    Blog text (18)

  • For other sensitive folk, I am a new soapmaker from Australia and found an allergy-free soft soap recipe in Alan Hayes' book.

    Blog text (18)

  • For a gentle cleaning routine, it's best to choose a soft soap that contains no harsh chemicals.

Synonyms

liquid soap
vssoft soap
3 1.0

A liquid used to wash hands or the body

is made from vegetable oils and sometimes used to treat certain skin conditions
green soap
vssoft soap
1 3.4

A soft cleaning product made from plant oils for washing and treating skin

is used mainly for treating certain skin conditions rather than general cleaning

How Liquid

soft soap
3.7
bar soap
4 1.0

Surface Forms

soft soap singular
soft soaps plural

Morphology

soft + soap

The sense 'insincere flattery' is not a straightforward combination of 'soft' (not harsh) and the literal cleaning substance 'soap'; there is no direct compositional logic that yields the metaphorical meaning. This is a lexicalized metaphor (compare the verb 'to soft-soap') and would not be predictable to an average B1 learner who knows the constituent words, so it is opaque.

Etymology

Soft soap is literally soft + soap: a gentle, often liquid soap made from vegetable oils and used on delicate skin. So the name just means 'gentle soap'.