soft-land

verb

ˈsȯf(t)-ˈland How to pronounce soft-land (audio)
soft-landed; soft-landing; soft-lands

transitive verb

: to cause to make a soft landing on a celestial body (such as the moon)

intransitive verb

: to make a soft landing
soft-lander noun

Examples of soft-land in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, the second private mission to soft-land on the moon, touched down in Mare Crisium on March 2 as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 10 Mar. 2025 That made China the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the moon. — IEEE Spectrum, 1 Jan. 2018

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from soft landing

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of soft-land was in 1958

Rhymes for soft-land

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Browse Nearby Words

soft-laid
soft-land
soft lay
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Soft-land.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soft-land. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.

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