Meaning & use
soft spoken person
Last updated
UK/ˌsɒft ˈspəʊkən ˈpɜːsn/
US/ˌsɔːft ˈspoʊkən ˈpɜːrsn/
Meaning
nouncountable
A person who speaks in a quiet, gentle voice and is not aggressive or loud.
Grammar: Countable: a soft-spoken person, two soft-spoken people.
Patterns
- a soft-spoken person
- be a soft-spoken person
She is a soft-spoken person who rarely raises her voice.
Everyone likes him because he is such a soft-spoken person.
A soft-spoken person can still be very firm in a discussion.
Word forms
| plural | soft-spoken people |
|---|
Common combinations
- a soft-spoken person
- He is a soft-spoken person, so people often listen carefully when he speaks.
- quiet and soft-spoken
- The new teacher is quiet and soft-spoken.
- soft-spoken but firm
- She is soft-spoken but firm when she needs to be.
- soft-spoken manner
- His soft-spoken manner makes him easy to talk to.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gentle
- Describes a kind and calm nature; 'soft-spoken' specifically refers to the voice.
- quiet
- Can mean 'not talking much'; 'soft-spoken' focuses on the softness of the voice, not the amount of talking.
- mild-mannered
- Describes calm behavior in general; 'soft-spoken' is only about how someone speaks.
Opposites
Word family
- soft-spoken adjective
- Having a quiet, gentle voice.
- softly spoken adjective
- Less common variant meaning the same.
Commonly confused: soft spoken person or soft-spoken?
soft spoken person vs soft-spoken
The adjective form; 'soft spoken person' is a noun phrase that uses the adjective.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The standard adjective is 'soft-spoken' with a hyphen. The others have spelling or grammar errors.
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