Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Tact |
TactNoun1. Consideration in dealing with others and avoiding giving offence. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "tact" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Tact \Tact\, noun. [Latin expression tactus touching, touch, from tangere, tactum, to touch: compare to the French expression tact. See Tangent.]. (references) |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
TACT | English | Transistor and Component Tester | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: TactSynonym: tactfulness (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: tactlessness (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Discrimination | Noun: discrimination, distinction, differentiation, diagnosis, diorism; nice perception; perception of difference, appreciation of difference; estimation; nicety, refinement; taste; critique, judgment; tact; discernment; (intelligence); acuteness, penetration; nuances. |
Intelligence Wisdom | Prudence; vigilance; tact; foresight; sobriety, self-possession, aplomb, ballast. |
Skill | Knowledge of the world, world wisdom, savoir faire; tact; mother wit; (sagacity); discretion; (caution); finesse; craftiness; (cunning); management; (conduct); self-help. |
Taste | Noun: taste; good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste; delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse; nicety; (discrimination); gr/to prepon/gr polish, elegance, grace. |
Touch | Noun: touch; tact, taction, tactility; feeling; palpation, palpability; contrectation; manipulation; massage. |
Vulgarity | Noun: vulgarity, vulgarism; barbarism, Vandalism, Gothicism; mauvis gout, bad taste; gaucherie, awkwardness, want of tact; ill-breeding; (discourtesy). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Tact |
| English words defined with "tact": circumspection, Common sense, crudeness, crudity ♦ delicacy, delicate, discreetness, discretion ♦ forbid, foreclose, forestall ♦ gaucheness ♦ preclude, prevent, prudence ♦ tactfully, tactlessly, tactlessness, ticklish, To sail fine ♦ urbane. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "tact": Chambermaid ♦ Embroidery ♦ Jarvie ♦ Moon. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "tact": tactual. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Tact" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (musical time, tact), French (delicate, musical time, tact), Romanian (address, bar, finesse, tact). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I have no tact. I'm noted for that (Road to Avonlea; writing credit: Heather Conkie; Suzette Couture) | |
Lyrics | My fame's in tact so cops won't know what it's hittin for (Down Ass Bitch; performing artist: Ja Rule) | |
Clever | Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Blind Man's Tact (1910) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Woman's tact. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Abraham Lincoln | Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. |
Benjamin Disraeli | Without tact you can learn nothing. Tact teaches you when to be silent. Inquirers who are always questioning never learn anything. |
Francois De La Rochefoucauld | If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent. |
Horace Greeley | Talent without tact is only half talent. |
Oscar Wilde | To have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact, talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you. |
Samuel Butler | It is tact that is golden, not silence. |
| Silence is not always tact, and it is tact that is golden -- not silence. | |
Sarah Orne Jewett | Tact is after all a kind of mind reading. |
William Gilmore Simms | Tact is one of the first mental virtues, the absence of it is fatal to the best talent. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | And that he had so much tact, that he would find means to reach her. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | India | Relations between India and China are on the mend, and the two sides handled the move from Tibet to India of the Karmapa Lama in January 2000 with delicacy and tact. (references) |
Travel | Vietnam | Tact, sensitivity and discretion are considered the most effective approach in dealing with disagreements or uncomfortable situations. (references) |
Korea | Koreans can prove subtle and effective negotiators, and a commitment to a rigid negotiating tact early on may work to the American's disadvantage. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | They've always been left largely in tact, free to start or support another war, including the current terrorist war now being waged against Israel's citizens. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Tact" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 94.65% of the time. "Tact" is used about 187 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 94.65% | 177 | 23,322 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 3.74% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.6% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 187 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "tact": sense of tact ♦ want of tact ♦ without tact. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "tact": con-tact, En-tact. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
tact | 41 | medisense soft tact | 3 |
tact switch | 23 | online.org tact | 3 |
con tact paper | 17 | medisense sof supply tact | 3 |
con tact | 8 | system tact | 3 |
precision sof tact | 7 | tact time | 3 |
sof tact | 6 | rate tact | 3 |
medisense sof tact | 5 | con liner shelf tact | 2 |
brand con tact | 5 | horse tact | 2 |
tact audio | 5 | brand con covering tact | 2 |
diplomacy tact | 4 | infection tact urinary | 2 |
honda tact | 4 | handle people skill tact | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "tact"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | beleid (discretion, generalship, musical time, policy, politics, prudence). (various references) | |
Albanian | takt (address, delicacy, discreetness), lezet (delicacy, handsomeness, prettiness, propriety, relish, suitability, zest). (various references) | |
Arabic | لباقة (diplomacy, felicity, management, savoir faire, skill, suaveness, urbanity), ذوق (decorum, gust, palate, sense, taste), دبلوماسية (diplomacy), براعة (address, artfulness, artifice, cleverness, craft, craftiness, cunning, dexterity, facility, finesse, hand, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, know how, mastery, proficiency, science, skill, skillfulness, sleight of hand, trick, workmanship). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | тактичност, такт (address, bar, cadence, cycle, diplomacy, management, measure, movement, poise, savoir faire, savvy, time). (various references) | |
Chinese | 老练 (Experienced, sophisticated), 機智 (witty). (various references) | |
Czech | taktnost (tactfulness, thoughtfulness), takt (bar, beat, delicacy, discretion, measure, time), diskrétnost (discretion). (various references) | |
Danish | takt (musical time). (various references) | |
Dutch | tact (musical time), ritme (musical time, rhythm), maat (buddy, companion, comrade, measure, measurement, musical time, pal, size), beleid (discretion, generalship, musical time, policy, politics, prudence). (various references) | |
Esperanto | takto (musical time). (various references) | |
Faeroese | takt (musical time), stig (degree, grade, musical time, pace, point, rung, stair, step, stride), stev (musical time), siður (custom, mores, musical time, tradition). (various references) | |
Farsi | مهارت (Address, Artifice, Craft, Gripe, Ingenuity, Knack, Proficiency, Skill, Sophistication, Versatility, Workmanship), ملاحظه (Consideration, Heed, Prudence, Regard, Respect), نزاکت (Civility, Comity, Propriety, Suavity), کاردانی (Policy, Resource, Skill), سلیقه (Elegance, Style, Taste), عقل (Intellect, Reason, Sagacity, Wisdom), درایت . (various references) | |
Finnish | tahti (bar, measure, musical time, step, tempo, time), tahdikkuus (discretion), säädyllisyys (decency, propriety, respectability). (various references) | |
French | tact, mesure. (various references) | |
German | Takt (bar, beat, clock, clock pulse, foot, gating, grace, measure, meter, musical time, phase, savoir faire, stroke, tactfulness, time). (various references) | |
Greek | λεπτότησ (comity, delicacy, fineness, gauziness, niceness, nicety, polish, refinement, sleaziness, slenderness, slimness, subtlety, tactfulness, tenuity, tenuousness, thinness, ticklishness, waspishness), λεπτότητα (comity, consideration, daintiness, delicacy, fineness, flimsiness, gauziness, niceness, nicety, polish, refinement, sleaziness, slenderness, slightness, slimness, subtlety, tactfulness, tenuity, tenuousness, thinness, ticklishness, waspishness), τάκτ, ορθοφροσύνη, διπλωματικότητα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ימוס (courtesy, etiquette, observance, politeness, usage). (various references) | |
Hungarian | tapintat (delicacy, diplomacy, discreetness, discretion, lightness). (various references) | |
Italian | tatto (discretion, feel, feeling, measure, time, touch). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 巧拙 (skill, workmanship). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きばたらき (taking appropriate action), きて" (a quick wit, cardinal point, clever, datum point, quick-wittedness, reference point, starting point, your store or shop), きち (already known, base, correct, dangerous position, extraordinary wisdom, healthy, perception, peril, resources, understanding, well-known, wit, your place), "うしゃ (alighting, cleverness, getting down, getting off, official residence, public corporation, rear car, religious association, school building, skill, the latter), "うせつ (explanation, gossip, public, sexual intercourse, skill, snow, snowfall, talk about town, workmanship, your opinion), りきりょう (ability, capacity, physical strength, skill, talent), らつわ" (shrewdness), てぎわ (performance, skill), え"て"かつ つ (adaptability, versatility). (various references) | |
Manx | fys loayrt (tactful). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | acttay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tino (asset), tato (feel, feeling, touch), compasso (beat, compass, measure, rhythm, time). (various references) | |
Romanian | tact (address, bar, finesse). (various references) | |
Russian | такт (address, cycle, time). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | takt (beat, measure, tempo, time signature), osećanje mere. (various references) | |
Spanish | tacto (discretion, feel, finesse, measure, osculation, savoir faire, touch), diplomacia (diplomacy). (various references) | |
Swedish | taktfullhet (tactfulness), takt (address, bar, beat, delicacy, discretion, finesse, grace, measure, pace, rate, stroke, time). (various references) | |
Thai | ประสาทสัมผัส. (various references) | |
Turkish | ortama göre davranma, nabza göre şerbet verme, incelik (civility, courtesy, daintiness, delicacy, discretion, elaborateness, fineness, finesse, fragility, grace, gracefulness, keenness, niceness, nicety, point, polish, politeness, refinement, slenderness, slightness, slimness, subtility, subtlety, thinness, touch), dokunma (contact, don't touch, feeling, handling, hands off, palpation, tactile, tactual, touch, touching). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | тактовність (delicacy, finesse, taste), такт (cadence, delicacy, lilt). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | t i xử trí, sự khéo xử (management). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | tactus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "tact": tactful, tactfully, tactfulness, tactfulnesses, tactic, tactical, tactically, tactician, tacticians, tactics, tactile, tactilely, tactilities, tactility, taction, tactions, tactless, tactlessly, tactlessness, tactlessnesses, tacts, tactual, tactually. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "tact": contact, intact, noncontact, outact, precontact, recontact. (additional references) | |
Words containing "tact": atactic, chemotactic, chemotactically, contacted, contactee, contactees, contacting, contacts, countertactics, geotactic, hypotactic, intactness, intactnesses, isotactic, noncontacts, outacted, outacting, outacts, paratactic, paratactical, paratactically, phonotactic, phonotactics, phototactic, phototactically, phyllotactic, protactinium, protactiniums, recontacted, recontacting, recontacts, stacte, stactes, stereotactic, syntactic, syntactical, syntactically, syntactics, thermotactic, untactful. (additional references) | |
| |
"Tact" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ctgaacat, dact, dtac, Gtatc, Gtatcc, jact, nact, Qtac, stact, taat, tabt, tacc, taci, Tacq, tacte, tacts, tacty, tacu, tacy, taet, tagt, taht, tak, Takata, takt, talt, tamt, tapt, tast, tawt, taxt, tct, teacg, Teachta, tect, ticf, tict, Tkacz, tkct, tsac, tvc, vact, xact, yact. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "tact" (pronounced ta"kt) |
| 4 | t a" k t | attacked, counterattacked, intact, stacked, tacked. |
| 3 | -a" k t | abstract, act, attract, backed, blacked, cracked, impact, detract, diffract, distract, enact, exact, extract, fact, hacked, inexact, interact, jacked, lacked, overreact, packed, pact, protract, racked, react, redact, reenact, repacked, retract, sacked, slacked, smacked, subtract, tracked, tract, transact, unpacked, whacked, wracked. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-t-t" | |
-1 letter: act, att, cat, tat. | |
-2 letters: at, ta. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-t-t" | |
+1 letter: attic, catty, cotta, scatt, tacet, tacit, tacts, tecta, tract. | |
+2 letters: attach, attack, attics, catgut, catted, cattie, cattle, chatty, cottae, cottar, cottas, intact, octant, outact, scatts, scatty, stacte, static, tacket, tactic, tectal, thatch, tictac, tipcat, tomcat, tracts. | |
+3 letters: acetate, actuate, acutest, astatic, astrict, atactic, attache, attacks, attract, calotte, cantata, casette, catboat, catguts, cathect, catmint, cattail, cattalo, cattery, cattier, catties, cattily, catting, cattish, cavetti, cavetto, chatted, chattel, chatter, citator, citrate, clatter, contact, costate, cottage, cottars, curtate, cuttage, detract, dictate, ectatic, etchant, extract, hatchet, lactate, latchet, lattice, mattock, nictate, octants, outacts, outcast, pectate, ratchet, retract, ricotta, scatted, scatter, scutate, stactes, statice, statics, tabetic, tachist, tacitly, tackets, tactful, tactics, tactile, taction, tactual, tantric, taxitic, teacart, testacy, tetanic, thatchy, thecate, tictacs, tipcart, tipcats, titanic, toccata, toccate, tomcats, topcoat, tractor, traject. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
