tact

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tāctus. Sense “keen perception” developed in French tact.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tækt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• 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

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 11, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:

     He had formed plans not inferior in grandeur and boldness to those of Richelieu, and had carried them into effect with a tact and wariness worthy of Mazarin.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 11, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:

     A tact which surpassed the tact of her sex as much as the tact of her sex surpassed the tact of ours.

   By the use of tact, she was able to calm her jealous husband.

   I used tact when I told my fat uncle that his extra weight made him look better.

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

sensitive mental touch

• Arabic: حِسّ‎ (ḥiss), لَبَاقَة‎ (labāqa), لَمْس‎ (lams)
• Catalan: tacte (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機智 (zh), 机智 (zh) (jīzhì), 輕重感, 轻重感 (qīngzhònggǎn), 分寸感 (fēncùngǎn), 禮貌 (zh), 礼貌 (zh) (lǐmào)

• Czech: takt (cs) m
• Esperanto: takto (eo)
• French: tact (fr) m
• Galician: tacto m, tento m
• German: Takt (de) m, Taktgefühl (de) n
• Irish: stuaim f
• Italian: tatto (it)
• Japanese: 如才なさ (じょさいなさ, josainasa), 愛想 (ja) (あいそ, aiso), 礼儀 (ja) (れいぎ, reigi)

• Korean: 재치 (ko) (jaechi)
• Maori: atawhai matawhāiti
• Persian: درایت‎ (fa) (derâyat)
• Polish: takt (pl) m
• Portuguese: tato (pt) m
• Russian: такт (ru) m (takt), такти́чность (ru) f (taktíčnostʹ)
• Spanish: tacto (es) m, tiento (es), mano izquierda
• Turkish: taktik (tr)
• Welsh: pwyll (cy) m, tact m
• Yiddish: שׂכל‎ m (seykhl)

sense of touch

• French: tact (fr) m

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.

Anagrams

• Catt

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French tact.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tact
• Rhymes: -ɑkt

Noun

tact m (uncountable)

1. tact, discernment

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tactus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /takt/

• Audio

  (file)

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).