tactile

[ tak-til, -tahyl ]

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, endowed with, or affecting the sense of touch.
2. perceptible to the touch; tangible.

tactile

/ tækˈtɪlɪtɪ; ˈtæktaɪl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, affecting, or having a sense of touch

   a tactile organ

   tactile stimuli

2. rare.
   capable of being touched; tangible

tactile

/ tăk′təl,tăk′tīl′ /

1. Used for or sensitive to touch.

Derived Forms

• tactility, noun

Other Words From

• tac·til·i·ty [tak-, til, -i-tee], noun
• non·tactile adjective
• nontac·tili·ty noun
• un·tactile adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tactile¹

1605–15; < Latin tāctilis tangible, equivalent to tāct ( us ) (past participle of tangere to touch) + -ilis -ile

Word History and Origins

Origin of tactile¹

C17: from Latin tactilis, from tangere to touch

Example Sentences

The resources are there if we want to learn that stuff but primarily when I was there it was more very tactile SEM.

From Search Engine Land

That’s part of the reason why history is built on preserving enduring visual and tactile artifacts, such as paintings, writings, architectural sites, or simply stones and bones.

From Nautilus

Remember that every ingredient you use will register some sort of effect on the trigeminal nerve, whether it is a tactile sensation, temperature-related, astringency, fattiness, pungency, numbness, a cooling sensation or the mild burn of alcohol.

From Popular-Science

It was a wild ride, but as a book it was inevitably more static and less tactile than other approaches.

From Nautilus

The researchers then did the same experiments, using tactile input only, with 15 subjects who had been blind since birth.

From MIT Technology Review

Could Peso-trash be a serious threat to the lively and tactile scene down the hill?

From The Daily Beast

These tactile projects make them “feel they can start and finish something,” she said.

From The Daily Beast

Physical bookshops are lovely tactile, friendly, expert, welcoming places.

From The Daily Beast

Physical books, which can only be seen and handled in physical bookshops, are lovely, tactile things.

From The Daily Beast

Tactile and open, she makes you feel both important and protective.

From The Daily Beast

Special nerve endings, called the tactile corpuscles, are found there, each inclosed in a sheath or capsule of connective tissue.

From Project Gutenberg

The constant wash of animal reactions was missing, as was the vague tactile awareness of his PK.

From Project Gutenberg

And this time it was accompanied by what I can only describe as a vivid tactile hallucination.

From Project Gutenberg

Their eyes, too, are less perfectly developed, and the tactile proboscis of their free-moving relatives is absent.

From Project Gutenberg

It certainly possesses very elaborate tactile organs about the head.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• palpable