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Tact

//tækt// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
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 and avoid statements that will give offence or pain even if true. uncountable
"By the use of tact, she was able to calm her jealous husband."
2
The sense of touch; feeling. countable, uncountable
"Did you suppose that I could not make myself sensible to tact as well as sight?"
3
Clipping of tactic. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang
"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.""
4
consideration in dealing with others and avoiding giving offense wordnet
5
Propriety; manners (etiquette). uncountable

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6
The stroke in beating time. countable, uncountable
7
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). countable, uncountable
"Skinner (1957) saw such tacts as responses that are reinforced socially."

Verb

1
To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant).

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French tact, following a semantic shift from earlier tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), borrowed from Latin tāctus (“touched”). The borrowing was likely influenced by earlier English tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), which was a parallel borrowing directly from the Latin.

Etymology 2

Directly borrowed from Latin tāctus.

Etymology 3

Directly borrowed from Latin tāctus.

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