How to Use cushion/soften the blow in a Sentence

cushion/soften the blow

idiom
  • Leo, her brother and a 15-year-old sophomore at the school, wanted to soften the blow.
    Joe Sexton, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2024
  • Green said there are steps districts can take to soften the blow of school closures.
    Silas Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Still, the bank thinks falling oil prices will help to soften the blow as this will translate to lower costs.
    WSJ, 14 Dec. 2023
  • But having something special to put up in its place can help soften the blow.
    Alyssa Grabinski, Peoplemag, 15 Dec. 2023
  • The peanut butter crunch McFlurry will hopefully soften the blow of the Grimace shake leaving the menu.
    Liza Esquibias, Peoplemag, 19 July 2023
  • China is unlikely to be able to count on exports—a key driver of growth since the start of the pandemic—to cushion the blow.
    Stella Yifan Xie, WSJ, 31 Oct. 2022
  • Even the Tesla bulls must be questioning whether Elon himself sees where his stock is headed, and wants to get a lot more for free to cushion the blow.
    Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
  • More than 20 years later, Timberlake has added a subtle disclaimer to soften the blow of his scathing hit.
    Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Recent output increases, along with ones likely on the way, should help cushion the blow for consumers.
    Matt Egan, CNN, 9 Aug. 2023
  • To cushion the blow of reduced grain imports, Egypt last week banned the export of flour and wheat, as well as pasta, lentils and fava beans, to protect its food reserves.
    Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2022
  • After that ruling, the White House announced a 12-month program to cushion the blow of payment resumption.
    Alex Tanzi, Fortune, 20 July 2023
  • The massive fall in output this year has led to a huge increase in government borrowing as the government sought to cushion the blow.
    Fox News, 26 Nov. 2020
  • Peloton has tried to cushion the blow to its growth by cutting the price of its popular bike and ramping up its ad spending, but growth remains stagnant.
    Reuters, CNN, 5 Feb. 2022
  • The Saudi government hopes the PIF projects will cushion the blow of lower government spending and the increasing costs of living in the kingdom.
    Rory Jones, WSJ, 15 Dec. 2020
  • Many are current homeowners able to use current equity to reduce the size of their next mortgage and soften the blow of higher rates.
    Anna Bahney, CNN, 22 Aug. 2023
  • Let Harry Styles cushion the blow with contemplative lyrics and a stunning music video.
    Abby Dupes, Seventeen, 5 Oct. 2022
  • To soften the blow of a recession that many economists believe is unavoidable this year.
    Larry Edelman, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Apr. 2023
  • Living in Michigan is less expensive, which helps soften the blow of lower incomes.
    Chris Isidore, CNN, 27 Feb. 2024
  • So far, Russia has been able to cushion the blow from a drop-off in exports to Europe by attracting other customers with steep discounts.
    Julia Horowitz, CNN, 16 June 2022
  • Frontpoint is upfront about its pricing, but that doesn’t help cushion the blow of its steep monthly monitoring fee.
    Kaz Weida, Popular Mechanics, 28 Apr. 2023
  • People lost jobs in mass numbers in early 2020, and the government tried to soften the blow with multiple relief packages.
    Ben Casselman, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2023
  • But Russia would then face an even sharper increase in the cost of refined products, only with lower export revenues to cushion the blow.
    Michael Liebreich, Foreign Affairs, 8 May 2024
  • But the law has worried some business owners, who say the government’s measures don’t do enough to cushion the blow to cafes – or their resident animals.
    Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Top budget committee leaders and Newsom are confident that the rainy day fund and other reserves will help cushion the blow.
    Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Dec. 2022
  • New York Times - More Americans are turning to gig work to soften the blow of unemployment and rising personal debt.
    Amber Burton, Fortune, 26 July 2023
  • Districts still have over a billion dollars in federal relief funds to help cushion the blow, but that money must be spent by September 2024.
    Naomi Martin, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Dec. 2022
  • Right now, the consumers who are being hit the hardest continue to be those making close to the minimum wage who do not have much in savings to cushion the blow of higher expenses.
    Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 12 Jan. 2022
  • White House press secretary Jen Psaki tried to preemptively cushion the blow of the report numbers on Monday.
    Ben Gittleson, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2022
  • Louie DiPalma, an analyst with William Blair, said the stock sell-off is likely driven by emotion, and there are several things that could happen to soften the blow.
    Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 July 2023
  • The Huskies coach wears his pessimism like a badge of honor to soften the blow when a season ends short of that ultimate goal, a blow always stings a bit more after so many years of accomplishing it over and over again.
    Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 6 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cushion/soften the blow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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