soften the blow

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

soften the blow

(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.

Further reading

“soften the blow” in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press.

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