to soften the blow
8
4.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
suavizar el golpe
- There's not much coal companies can do to soften the blow, so it's in their best interest to just kill the bill entirely.
That creates an energy that softens the blow for them.
- That creates an energy that softens the blow for them.
- Knowing the Y doesn't really soften the blow, does it?
Examples
-
To soften the blow of the unexpected layoffs, the manager offered additional severance packages.
-
The doctor spoke gently to soften the blow of the diagnosis for her patient.
-
Should we soften the blow for those who continued and continue to buy gas?
Blog text (11) -
But the government wanted to soften the blow by making pensions and health insurance affordable.
Academic text (1996) -
We need proactive policies to deal with peak oil to soften the blow.
Blog text (11) -
Maybe if you tell them about you two first, it'll soften the blow for me.
-
If not, then we can at least soften the blow of this turmoil that we will inevitably experience.
Blog text (12) -
But he, too, found the black saucer eyes in the white face compelling, and he tried to soften the blow a little.
Fiction book (1996) -
The teacher tried to soften the blow of the bad news by explaining the benefits of the change.
Synonyms
305
2.1
To make something less painful or difficult
76
5.3
To make pain, suffering, or a problem less strong
50
3.1
Make something less strong or harsh
26
2.5
To make a load or worry feel less heavy
23
3.7
To make a blow or bad news less strong
8
7.2
To make someone less angry or upset
1
7.2
To make something unpleasant sound better to avoid hurting feelings
1
6.2
Make an unpleasant thing seem easier to accept by adding something pleasant
Make a bad thing or its effects seem less serious without removing the cause
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'soften' (make gentler) with 'blow' (a setback or hit): the expression pictures reducing the impact of a harmful event. This straightforward physical-to-abstract metaphor is common cross‑linguistically and follows regular English composition, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituents should understand it.
Etymology
Soften the blow comes from the simple image of putting something soft between you and a hard hit: to soften a blow is to make a hit less painful. That's why it now means 'to make bad news or a shock less strong'.