"softcore" meaning in English

See softcore in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-au-softcore.ogg Forms: more softcore [comparative], most softcore [superlative]
Etymology: From soft + core, by analogy with hardcore. Etymology templates: {{af|en|soft|core}} soft + core Head templates: {{en-adj}} softcore (comparative more softcore, superlative most softcore)
  1. (slang, of music genres, subcultures, etc.) Less intense, committed or aggressive than hardcore. Tags: slang, usually Derived forms: softcore pornography
    Sense id: en-softcore-en-adj-OMdkUYN3 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52

Noun

Audio: En-au-softcore.ogg
Etymology: From soft + core, by analogy with hardcore. Etymology templates: {{af|en|soft|core}} soft + core Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} softcore (uncountable)
  1. Pornography that does not contain depictions of explicit sexual penetration. Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-softcore-en-noun-FUmZQLMF Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Pornography Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 40 60 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pornography: 7 93

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_text": "From soft + core, by analogy with hardcore.",
  "head_templates": [
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  "senses": [
    {
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          "_dis": "34 66",
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          "name": "Pornography",
          "orig": "en:Pornography",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Pornography that does not contain depictions of explicit sexual penetration."
      ],
      "id": "en-softcore-en-noun-FUmZQLMF",
      "links": [
        [
          "Pornography",
          "pornography"
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-softcore.ogg",
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From soft + core, by analogy with hardcore.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more softcore",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most softcore",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              38
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          "ref": "1999, Lauraine Leblanc, Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture, page 55:",
          "text": "Distinct from hardcore punks, softcore punks expressed less commitment to punk values […]",
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        }
      ],
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      ],
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      "links": [
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        [
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        ],
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        ]
      ],
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        "(slang, of music genres, subcultures, etc.) Less intense, committed or aggressive than hardcore."
      ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
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    {
      "glosses": [
        "Pornography that does not contain depictions of explicit sexual penetration."
      ],
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    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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  "forms": [
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
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          "ref": "1999, Lauraine Leblanc, Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture, page 55:",
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    }
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}

Download raw JSONL data for softcore meaning in English (2.8kB)

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  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: slang, of music genres, subcultures, etc.",
  "path": [
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "adjective",
  "title": "softcore",
  "trace": ""
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{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: slang, of music genres, subcultures, etc.",
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  "subsection": "adjective",
  "title": "softcore",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.