tactile
Americanadjective
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of, pertaining to, endowed with, or affecting the sense of touch.
-
perceptible to the touch; tangible.
adjective
-
of, relating to, affecting, or having a sense of touch
a tactile organ
tactile stimuli
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rare capable of being touched; tangible
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tactile
1605–15; < Latin tāctilis tangible, equivalent to tāct ( us ) (past participle of tangere to touch) + -ilis -ile
Explanation
Tactile has to do with the sense of touch. There's a huge tactile difference between smooth glass and rough sandpaper. Anything to do with touch can be described as tactile. Ever notice how a dog would rather sleep on a soft blanket than a rubbery leather couch? That's because dogs have tactile preferences: the softer the better. Different textures of food are tactile — they feel different in your mouth, aside from how they taste. You deal with the world of tactile things every day — you use your tactile sense whenever you touch anything.
Vocabulary lists containing tactile
Fahrenheit 451
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Common Senses: Tact, Tang ("Touch")
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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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.
Some backdrops were creepy set dressing, while others had tactile brutality — Sphere often had the rumble-seat effect blaring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
One way to emulate highly successful people is to start in a tactile sector, like construction or auto repair, that gives you hands-on experience.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
She says if you are looking to replicate this trend, mix pastel colours, dreamy florals, and tactile materials to form "unexpected clashes" that "look really messy".
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Even among households worth $100 million or more, one third own businesses in tactile industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
They dealt only with experimental data and were filled with graphs, charts, tables, photographs of devices for the measuring of auditory, visual, and tactile responses, and with mathematical translations of laboratory findings.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
