noun · verb · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/tækt/
Australia:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
UK:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
homophone: tacked
rhymes with -ækt
CMU ARPABET:T AE1 K T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The sense of touch; feeling.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
The stroke in beating time.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
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).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: human-sciences, psychology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
Clipping of tactic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
verb
Meaning 7
To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, psychology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
consideration in dealing with others and avoiding giving offense
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
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.
Directly borrowed from Latin tāctus.
Across languages
Translations
38 source translations are retained for this English entry.
