soften the blowとは 意味・読み方・使い方

動詞

soften the blow (三人称単数 現在形 softens the blow, 現在分詞 softening the blow, 過去形および過去分詞形 softened the blow)

1. (figuratively) To reduce the negative impact of something.

   Synonym: cushion the blow

   • 2014, Noah-Jay Michael, Mastering Conversational Hypnosis: Learn the Principles of Hypnotic Language Patterns, Lulu.com (→ISBN), page 52:

     Traditionally, people gave a compliment first so it would soften the blow of what was to come after. It does not soften the blow, it fully erases the fact that they ever been complimented because their mind is focused on the last thing they heard, […]

   • 2015, Cindy Sanford, Letters to a Lifer: The Boy ‘Never to be Released’, Waterside Press (→ISBN), page 181:

     In prison there are no loved ones to soften the blow of such terrible news. I hated being the one to tell him, but it was infinitely better than if he got the news from someone he rarely heard from.

   • 2022 September 4, Erika Solomon, “Wary of Cold Days and Hot Tempers, Europe’s Leaders Vow Economic Relief”, in The New York Times‎^[1], ISSN 0362-4331:

     European governments moved this weekend to soften the blow of soaring costs and a deepening energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, and scrambled to prepare for the possibility of social unrest as the days grow colder.