soften

In a bid to soften the impact of the cuts, the government launched a campaign to encourage eligible pensioners to apply for pension credit.

But the Treasury has rejected proposals that would soften the impact.

The officer seemed to soften, but with a catch.

But he realizes that he can only do so much to soften the blows of this hard world.

A bid by the department for rural affairs to soften changes to inheritance tax for farms - possibly by exempting some older farmers - has been rejected by the Treasury.