softened, as a blow 7 Little Words

“softened, as a blow” answer

The 7 Little Words answer for “softened, as a blow” (most recently Thursday, August 20, 2026, Puzzle 3) is:

CUSHIONED·9 letters

You can also reveal it one tile at a time above if you'd rather keep some of the challenge.

When else has “softened, as a blow” appeared?

• August 20, 2026 (most recent) → CUSHIONED

Why the answer is CUSHIONED

Made an impact gentler, like padding would 🛏️

How to build CUSHIONED from the tiles

In 7 Little Words you don't type the answer — you assemble it from the puzzle's shared tile bank, and every tile is used exactly once across all seven answers. Puzzle 3's tiles for August 20, 2026 are:

CUS · HIO · NED · DET · ACH · BA · MBA · LAK · ERS · STO · NE · MA · SON · HAI · RLE · SS · COP · PE · RFI · ELD

CUSHIONED is built by combining the tiles CUS · HIO · NED in order. Because those tiles come out of the shared bank, locking in CUSHIONED early also narrows what's left for the other six clues.

More clues from this puzzle

Stuck on another clue? Here are the rest of Puzzle 3's clues for August 20, 2026 — tap any for its answer and tile breakdown:

• separate — 6 letters
• word in a Ritchie Valens hit — 5 letters
• Shaq and Kobe's team — 6 letters
• artisan who works with rocks — 10 letters
• superficially smooth — 8 letters
• Dickens' favorite character — 11 letters

Want all five puzzles in one place? The full day is on the August 20, 2026 answers page, and today's live answers are always one tap from the main 7 Little Words page.

About 7 Little Words

7 Little Words is a daily clue-and-tile puzzle from Blue Ox Technologies. Each board gives seven clues and a bank of two- and three-letter tiles; you spell every answer by combining tiles, using each tile exactly once. Five free puzzles publish every day, resetting at midnight Eastern Time. This was a Thursday puzzle.