{
  "id": "soft.physical",
  "term": "soft",
  "sense": "physical",
  "pos": "adjective",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 14,
  "arena": "emergencelexicon",
  "domain": "adjective",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "not hard",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "matter.substance",
      "energy.capacity"
    ],
    "interaction": "when matter is such that small energy can change its shape",
    "novel_properties": [
      "low resistance",
      "yielding texture",
      "soft touch"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The pillows on the bed at the Ritz Paris were filled with down feathers, making them soft to the touch.",
      "domain": "everyday life"
    },
    {
      "text": "Tofu produced by Higashimaru Soy Company has a soft texture due to high water content and gentle coagulation.",
      "domain": "food"
    },
    {
      "text": "The asteroid 101955 Bennu, studied by NASA's OSIRIS-REx, has a surface so soft it gave way under the sampling probe.",
      "domain": "astronomy"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "hard.difficulty",
      "note": "contrasts-with",
      "type": "contrasts-with"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "fur.material"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "soft",
    "softer",
    "softest",
    "softly"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-soft.physical"
}