contact

American  

[kon-takt] / ˈkɒn tækt /

noun

• contacts
  plural

1. the act or state of touching; a touching or meeting, as of two things or people.

2. immediate proximity or association.

3. an acquaintance, colleague, or relative through whom a person can gain access to information, favors, influential people, and the like.

4. Electricity. a junction of electric conductors, usually metal, that controls current flow, often completing or interrupting a circuit.

5. Geology. the interface, generally a planar surface, between strata that differ in lithology or age.

6. Medicine/Medical. a person who has lately been exposed to an infected person.

7. Sociology. a condition in which two or more individuals or groups are placed in communication with each other.

8. contact lens.

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verb (used with object)

• contacts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contacted,
  past participle,  past
• contacting
  present participle

1. to put or bring into contact.

2. to communicate with.

   We'll contact you by mail or telephone.

verb (used without object)

• contacts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contacted,
  past participle,  past
• contacting
  present participle

1. to enter into or be in contact.

adjective

1. involving or produced by touching or proximity.

   contact allergy.

contact British  

/ kɒnˈtæktjʊəl /

noun

1. the act or state of touching physically

2. the state or fact of close association or communication (esp in the phrases in contact, make contact )

3. 1. a junction of two or more electrical conductors

   2. the part of the conductors that makes the junction

   3. the part of an electrical device to which such connections are made

4. an acquaintance, esp one who might be useful in business, as a means of introduction, etc

5. any person who has been exposed to a contagious disease

6. photog See contact print

7. (usually plural) an informal name for contact lens

8. (modifier) of or relating to irritation or inflammation of the skin caused by touching the causative agent

   contact dermatitis

9. (modifier) denoting an insecticide or herbicide that kills on contact, rather than after ingestion or absorption

10. (modifier) of or maintaining contact

11. (modifier) requiring or involving (physical) contact

    the contact sport of boxing

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verb

1. to put, come, or be in association, touch, or communication

interjection

1. aeronautics (formerly) a call made by the pilot to indicate that an aircraft's ignition is switched on and that the engine is ready for starting by swinging the propeller

contact Scientific  

/ kŏn′tăkt′ /

1. Electricity

   1. A connection between two conductors that allows an electric current to flow.

   2. A part or device that makes or breaks a connection in an electrical circuit.

2. Geology The place where two different types of rock, or rocks of different ages, come together.

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Usage

Many verbs in English have derived from nouns. One can head an organization or toe the mark; butter the bread or bread the cutlet. Hence, grammatically at least, there is no historical justification for the once frequently heard criticism of contact used as a verb meaning “to communicate with”: The managing editor contacted each reporter personally. Despite the earlier objections to it and probably largely because there is no other one-word verb in the language to express the same idea, this use of contact has become standard in all types of speech and writing. Contact as a noun meaning “a person through whom one can gain access to information and the like” is also standard: My contact at the embassy says that the coup has been successful.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncontact
  noun
• recontact
  noun
• contactual
  adjective
• uncontacted
  adjective
• contactually
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contacts
  plural

Participles

• contacting
  present
• contacted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• contact
  simple
• contacts
  simple
• have contacted
  perfect
• has contacted
  perfect
• am contacting
  progressive
• are contacting
  progressive
• is contacting
  progressive
• have been contacting
  perfect progressive
• has been contacting
  perfect progressive

Past

• contacted
  simple
• had contacted
  perfect
• was contacting
  progressive
• were contacting
  progressive
• had been contacting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will contact
  simple
• will have contacted
  perfect
• will be contacting
  progressive
• will have been contacting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of contact

First recorded in 1620–30; from Latin contāctus “a touch,” noun use of past participle of contingere “to touch together, each other, on all sides,” from con- con- + -tingere, combining form of tangere “to touch”; cf. attain, tango

Explanation

Contact is the act of touching or communicating with someone or something else. The question increasingly isn't whether there is other life in the universe, but how on earth we will ever make contact with it. "To make contact" (the noun) means to establish some form of communication, be it physical, verbal, or some other kind. To contact (the verb) means to establish that communication. If you're looking to contact Madonna, good luck. She's got people whose only job it is to prevent folks like you from making contact with her. Batteries have two contacts, one positive and one negative. They are where the battery makes contact with the thing to which it provides power.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

contact contacts contacted contacting

Other than our contact information, we had to upload just two documents — one detailing our proposed tuition and fees, and the other with our refund policy.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

"Since they arrived in prison we lost contact with them," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

She recalled "rising panic" over the hour as she was "essentially trapped" in the middle of the night, trying and failing "multiple times" to contact hotel staff.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

The technology is designed to investigate how DNA folds inside cells and how distant sections of the genome can come into contact and influence gene activity.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

I slept fitfully for the rest of the night and woke up in the morning with more relief than disappointment, glad I hadn’t tried to make contact with unknown people at night.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

European officials are stepping up their contacts with Moscow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Sometimes the operators already know about the leaks and are fixing them when the state air agency contacts them, according to the state’s dashboard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

U.S. and Iranian officials also communicated through Qatari and Pakistani mediators during the gathering, contacts Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as significant despite the limited progress.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

And not having obvious industry contacts shouldn't put you off.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

This South American country was rumored to be wild and inhospitable, but she had contacts in the Dutch colony there, through her son-in-law and other former Labadists.

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman

I searched the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors website and contacted several fee-only firms in my area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Valve, Fortnite, and Microsoft - which owns Minecraft - have been contacted for comment.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

“We contacted the offending students’ families and instituted consequences, and are working to educate the students about the impact of their actions,” Holdren said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

In response, Booking.com reiterated: "All of the impacted listings were removed and customers with future stays contacted and supported, which, depending on their individual circumstances, could mean relocations, refunds or free cancellations."

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

When the book was published Calvin contacted the authorities in Vienna and had the heretic imprisoned.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

According to the order reviewed by The Times, Berry is prohibited from contacting Martinez, 60, and their son Maceo beyond the terms of her August 2023 split-custody agreement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

After months of contacting Meta, Instagram’s parent company, he said he got no meaningful response.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

“We thank the researchers for contacting us and sharing their findings. We narrowed the permissions on Community sign-in tokens and revoked affected tokens and sessions,” the company said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Pritchard was also handed an indefinite restraining order, preventing her from contacting her ex-husband.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Now Geyer and Cuddy began searching the records of real estate agencies and contacting the owners of rental homes, but Toronto was far larger than any other city Geyer had searched.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• approach
• call
• connect
• phone
• reach
• talk
• telephone
• visit