faint vs soft

faint

adj
  • Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp 

  • Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness 

  • Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy 

  • Slight; minimal. 

  • Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected 

verb
  • To decay; to disappear; to vanish. 

  • To lose consciousness through a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions). 

  • To lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent. 

noun
  • The act of fainting, syncope. 

  • The state of one who has fainted; a swoon. 

soft

adj
  • Not bright or intense. 

  • Of a ferromagnetic material; a material that becomes essentially non-magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed, a material with a low magnetic coercivity. (compare hard) 

  • Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind. 

  • Requiring little or no effort; easy. 

  • Voiced; sonant; lenis. 

  • Voiceless. 

  • Gentle. 

  • Lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy. 

  • Low in dissolved calcium compounds. 

  • Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh. 

  • Easily giving way under pressure. 

  • Emulated with software; not physically real. 

  • Not likely to cause addiction. 

  • Not containing alcohol. 

  • Weak in character; impressible. 

  • Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye. 

  • Gentle in action or motion; easy. 

  • Incomplete, or temporary; not a full action. 

  • Effeminate. 

  • Of a market: having more supply than demand; being a buyer's market. 

  • softcore. 

  • Palatalized. 

  • Physically or emotionally weak. 

  • Foolish. 

  • Agreeable to the senses. 

  • Having a slight angle from straight. 

  • Made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows. 

  • Quiet. 

noun
  • A soft sound or part of a sound. 

  • A soft or foolish person; an idiot. 

How often have the words faint and soft occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )