"soft pedal" meaning in English

See soft pedal in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈsɒf(t)ˌpɛdl̩/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈsɔf(t)ˌpɛdəl/ [General-American], /ˈsɑf(t)-/ [General-American] Forms: soft pedals [plural]
Etymology: From soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|soft|pedal|notext=1|t1=of sound: quiet|type=endocentric}} soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal Head templates: {{en-noun}} soft pedal (plural soft pedals)
  1. (music, also attributively) The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played. Tags: also, attributive Synonyms: una corda pedal Derived forms: soft-pedal [verb] Coordinate_terms: sostenuto pedal, sustain pedal Translations (leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played): 弱音踏板 (ruòyīn tàbǎn) (Chinese Mandarin), 柔音踏板 (róuyīn tàbǎn) (Chinese Mandarin), hiljennyspedaali (Finnish), pédale douce [feminine] (French), pedal chwith [masculine] (Welsh)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "soft",
        "3": "pedal",
        "notext": "1",
        "t1": "of sound: quiet",
        "type": "endocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "soft pedals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "soft pedal (plural soft pedals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "soft ped",
        "al"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English endocentric compounds",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Welsh translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "sostenuto pedal"
        },
        {
          "word": "sustain pedal"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "verb"
          ],
          "word": "soft-pedal"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played."
      ],
      "id": "en-soft_pedal-en-noun-rKe3KhZV",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "leftmost",
          "leftmost"
        ],
        [
          "foot-pedal",
          "footpedal"
        ],
        [
          "pianos",
          "piano#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pushed",
          "push#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "dampen",
          "dampen"
        ],
        [
          "strings",
          "string#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "soften",
          "soften"
        ],
        [
          "note",
          "note#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "played",
          "play#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music, also attributively) The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "una corda pedal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "also",
        "attributive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "ruòyīn tàbǎn",
          "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
          "word": "弱音踏板"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "róuyīn tàbǎn",
          "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
          "word": "柔音踏板"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
          "word": "hiljennyspedaali"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "pédale douce"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "lang_code": "cy",
          "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pedal chwith"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɒf(t)ˌpɛdl̩/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɔf(t)ˌpɛdəl/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɑf(t)-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "soft pedal"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "soft-pedal"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "soft",
        "3": "pedal",
        "notext": "1",
        "t1": "of sound: quiet",
        "type": "endocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From soft (“of sound: quiet”) + pedal.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "soft pedals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "soft pedal (plural soft pedals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "soft ped",
        "al"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English compound nouns",
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English endocentric compounds",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Welsh translations",
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "sostenuto pedal"
        },
        {
          "word": "sustain pedal"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "leftmost",
          "leftmost"
        ],
        [
          "foot-pedal",
          "footpedal"
        ],
        [
          "pianos",
          "piano#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pushed",
          "push#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "dampen",
          "dampen"
        ],
        [
          "strings",
          "string#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "soften",
          "soften"
        ],
        [
          "note",
          "note#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "played",
          "play#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music, also attributively) The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "una corda pedal"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "also",
        "attributive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɒf(t)ˌpɛdl̩/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɔf(t)ˌpɛdəl/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsɑf(t)-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "ruòyīn tàbǎn",
      "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
      "word": "弱音踏板"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "róuyīn tàbǎn",
      "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
      "word": "柔音踏板"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
      "word": "hiljennyspedaali"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pédale douce"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "lang_code": "cy",
      "sense": "leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pedal chwith"
    }
  ],
  "word": "soft pedal"
}

Download raw JSONL data for soft pedal meaning in English (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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