contact
[kon-takt]
- the act or state of touching; a touching or meeting, as of two things or people.
- immediate proximity or association.
- an acquaintance, colleague, or relative through whom a person can gain access to information, favors, influential people, and the like.
- Electricity. a junction of electric conductors, usually metal, that controls current flow, often completing or interrupting a circuit.
- Geology. the interface, generally a planar surface, between strata that differ in lithology or age.
- Medicine/Medical. a person who has lately been exposed to an infected person.
- Sociology. a condition in which two or more individuals or groups are placed in communication with each other.Compare categoric contact, primary contact, secondary contact, sympathetic contact.
- contact lens.
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- to put or bring into contact.
- to communicate with: We'll contact you by mail or telephone.
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- to enter into or be in contact.
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- involving or produced by touching or proximity: contact allergy.
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Origin of contact
Usage note
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for contact
Contemporary Examples
The spokesman also said that Ambassador King “did not view the movie and did not have any contact directly with Sony.”
Exclusive: Sony Emails Say Studio Exec Picked Kim Jong-Un as the Villain of ‘The Interview’William Boot
December 19, 2014
In fact, he was in contact with Lansky prior to converging from the hillside onto the streets of Havana.
“Keeping in contact with those people, and mechanically getting them to the trial, those are the hard parts,” Risner said.
She had been my point of contact as I was trying to get up there.
A Whisky Connoisseur Remembers That First Sip of The MacallanDecember 10, 2014
She said that she came in contact with Cosby while working at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Two New Bill Cosby Accusers Come Forward: ‘We Challenge Mr. Cosby to End This Nightmare’Marlow Stern
December 3, 2014
Historical Examples
Every one we came in contact with, both high and low, treated us most kindly.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
For all that his contact with him came to, he might as well be dead!
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
The contact of her brave lips drove a magnetic flow of confidence into the man.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
Thus holiday-makers of the two nations do not come in contact.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
Our second visit brought us into contact with the bourgeois element.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
contact
- the act or state of touching physically
- the state or fact of close association or communication (esp in the phrases in contact, make contact)
- a junction of two or more electrical conductors
- the part of the conductors that makes the junction
- the part of an electrical device to which such connections are made
- an acquaintance, esp one who might be useful in business, as a means of introduction, etc
- any person who has been exposed to a contagious disease
- photog See contact print
- (usually plural) an informal name for contact lens
- (modifier) of or relating to irritation or inflammation of the skin caused by touching the causative agentcontact dermatitis
- (modifier) denoting an insecticide or herbicide that kills on contact, rather than after ingestion or absorption
- (modifier) of or maintaining contact
- (modifier) requiring or involving (physical) contactthe contact sport of boxing
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- (when intr, often foll by with) to put, come, or be in association, touch, or communication
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- 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
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin contactus, from contingere to touch on all sides, pollute, from tangere to touch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for contact
n.
1620s, "action of touching," from Latin contactus "a touching," from past participle of contingere "to touch, seize," from com- "together" (see com-) + tangere "to touch" (see tangent).
Figurative sense of "connection, communication" is from 1818. As a signal to the person about to spin an aircraft propeller that the ignition is switched on, the word was in use by 1913. Contact lens is first recorded 1888; short form contact is from 1961.
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v.
1834, "put in contact," from contact (n.). Meaning "get in touch with" is 1927, American English. Related: Contacted; contacting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
contact
(kŏn′tăkt′)- A coming together or touching, as of bodies or surfaces.
- A person recently exposed to a contagious disease, usually through close association with an infected individual.
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- To bring, be, or come in contact.
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- Of, sustaining, or making contact.
- Caused or transmitted by touching, as a rash.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
contact
[kŏn′tăkt′]
- Electricity
- A connection between two conductors that allows an electric current to flow.
- A part or device that makes or breaks a connection in an electrical circuit.
- Geology The place where two different types of rock, or rocks of different ages, come together.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.