different between tact vs tactile

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin t?ctus. Sense “keen perception” developed in French tact.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

tact (countable and uncountable, plural tacts)

1. The sense of touch; feeling. [from 1650s]
   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society

     Did you suppose that I could not make myself sensible to tact as well as sight?

   • 1881, Joseph LeConte, Sight: An Exposition on the Principles of Monocular and Binocular Vision

     Now, sight is a very refined tact.

2. (music) The stroke in beating time.
3. Sensitive mental touch; special skill or faculty; keen perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances; the ability to say the right thing. [from early 19th c.]

   Synonyms: sensitivity, consideration, diplomacy, tactfulness

4. (slang) Clipping of tactic.
   • 2006 "Block Party", Corner Gas

     Wanda "Hey, can you show us?"
     Karen "No"
     Brent "We promise not to make fun of you."
     Karen "No"
     Lacey "Okay, we promise TO make fun of you."
     Karen "I'm getting a drink"
     Lacey "I was trying a different tact."
     Wanda "Bad tack."

5. (psychology) A verbal operant which is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise).
   • 2013, Jacob L. Gewirtz, William M. Kurtines, Jacob L. Lamb, Intersections With Attachment

     Skinner (1957) saw such tacts as responses that are reinforced socially.

Derived terms

• tactful
• tactless

Translations

Verb

tact (third-person singular simple present tacts, present participle tacting, simple past and past participle tacted)

1. (psychology) To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).

Further reading

• tact on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• tact in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• tact in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Anagrams

• Catt

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French tact.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?kt/
• Hyphenation: tact
• Rhymes: -?kt

Noun

tact m (uncountable)

1. tact, discernment

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tactus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /takt/

Noun

tact m (plural tacts)

1. tact

Related terms

• tactile

Further reading

• “tact” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French tactile, from Latin tactilis (“that may be touched, tangible”), from tangere (“to touch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tækta?l/, /?tækt?l/

Adjective

tactile (comparative more tactile, superlative most tactile)

1. Tangible; perceptible to the sense of touch.
2. Used for feeling.
3. Of or relating to the sense of touch.
   • H. N. Martin

     The delicacy of the tactile sense varies on different parts of the skin; it is greatest on the forehead, temples and back of the forearm.

Related terms

Translations

See also

• haptic
• palpable
• touchable

Further reading

• tactile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• tactile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• tactile at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• lattice, talcite

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin t?ctilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tak.til/

Adjective

tactile (plural tactiles)

1. tactile
2. haptic

Derived terms

• écran tactile
• tactilement

Further reading

• “tactile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Adjective

t?ctile

1. nominative neuter singular of t?ctilis
2. accusative neuter singular of t?ctilis
3. vocative neuter singular of t?ctilis