tactful
Americanadjective
Related Words
See diplomatic.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tactful
Explanation
If you are tactful, you have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. A tactful person is appropriate and sensitive, never rude or careless. Tactful means "full of tact." What's tact? It's the gift for saying the right thing because you understand what the situation calls for. So, if you are tactful, you wouldn't tell your friend that the food at her party was awful — you'd talk about the interesting conversation you had and the great music. But even when tactful people have to give criticism, they do it in such a way that the other person doesn't get offended.
Vocabulary lists containing tactful
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Power Suffix: -ful
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tactful, when as King he took the Oath before the House of Lords he so mumbled the passages denouncing the Roman Catholic faith that no one could hear a word of it.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tactful U.S. interpreters finally hinted that the party was over.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tactful Discrimination The bitter, no-quarter rivalry between the New York Herald Tribune's Marguerite Higgins and Homer Bigart became legend among correspondents early in the Korean war.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tactful, efficient, she was useful in coping with his famed tantrums, in keeping people out of his way when necessary.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tactful silence became quite necessary at a time when almost every household at Rome was rent by divided sympathies, and yet brotherhood in art could hardly be entirely stifled.
From Vergil A Biography by Frank, Tenney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
