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
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
This report provides further hope for a no-landing or soft-landing economic scenario in the U.S. despite relatively high interest rates. Jason Schenker, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024 Intuitive Machines made history in February as the first U.S. company to soft-land a cargo mission on the moon’s surface. Michael Sheetz, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2024 Chang'e 6 built off the accomplishments of two previous Chinese missions: Chang'e 4, which soft-landed on the far side of the Moon and used a rover to explore the surface, and Chang'e 5, which returned samples from the Moon’s near side. Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, Discover Magazine, 8 Aug. 2024 The lander separated from the orbiter after the craft achieved lunar orbit and soft-landed on the moon's surface. George Petras, USA TODAY, 13 June 2024 In August, India made history by soft-landing a rover on the moon, becoming just the fourth nation to do so. Rhea Mogul, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024 Those similarities have helped me soft-land into the production landscape here in Denmark and Europe. Annika Pham, Variety, 12 Mar. 2024 The plan also focuses on making downtown more friendly to small businesses by simplifying licensing and permitting regulations and in April, launching a soft-landing program to attract international companies and start-ups. Michael Brice-Saddler, Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2024 Astrobotic was the first company to fly under the CLPS initiative, and after its January setback, Intuitive Machines has picked up the torch — aiming to soft-land Odysseus near the lunar south pole on Thursday. Kristin Fisher, CNN, 21 Feb. 2024

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

Dictionary Entries Near soft-land

Cite this Entry

“Soft-land.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soft-land. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!