soft-liner

noun

A person who holds a moderate position and may be willing to compromise, as opposed to a hard-liner.

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Meanings

nounsoft-liner (plural soft-liners)

plural soft-liners

  1. rareA person who holds a moderate position and may be willing to compromise, as opposed to a hard-liner.

    At this node the soft-liners must decide whether to do nothing and stick with the status quo or to open up the political regime.

    2012, William Roberts Clark, Matt Golder, Sona Nadenichek Golder, Principles of Comparative Politics, page 299
    1 more example

    […] a realistic deal between “hard liners” and “soft liners” that would result in a sort of limited and explicit “partial-inclusion pact” […]

    2016, Jan-Erik Lane, Hamadi Redissi, Religion and Politics: Islam and Muslim Civilisation, page 222

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
nonfanatic

Origin

From soft + line + -er, modelled on hard-liner.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

soft-liner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-liner

MLA

“soft-liner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-liner. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soft-liner,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soft-liner.

Source: soft-liner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.