softly

comparative softlier · comparative more softly · superlative softliest · superlative most softly

1. In a soft manner; gently.

   The masseuse was rubbing my back too softly for my liking, so I asked her to go harder.

   1 more example

   He had married a lady well educated and softly nurtured, but not dowered with worldly wealth. […] They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.

   1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

2. Not loudly; nearly inaudibly.

   play music softly

   1 more example

   whisper softly in someone's ear

3. With subdued color; faded or misty with distance.

   And they sat very still, the two of them, and looked out over that great, beautiful desert—away to the home mesa that they could see, softly blue, in the distance.

   1928, Grace Moon, “VII. The Tale of the Sacred Eagle”, in The Runaway Papoose