tactile

[tak-til, -tahyl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tactile ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, pertaining to, endowed with, or affecting the sense of touch.

perceptible to the touch; tangible.

Origin of tactile

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

Related formstac·til·i·ty

[tak-til-i-tee] /tækˈtɪl ɪ ti/, nounnon·tac·tile, adjectivenon·tac·til·i·ty, nounun·tac·tile, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tactile

Contemporary Examples of tactile

Could Peso-trash be a serious threat to the lively and tactile scene down the hill?
The Second Life of San Miguel de Allende
Michele Willens
February 26, 2014
These tactile projects make them “feel they can start and finish something,” she said.
Italian Organization Barrique Rehabilitates Wine Casks To Make Furniture And Benefit Rehabilitation Facility
Sarah Begley
May 20, 2013
Physical books, which can only be seen and handled in physical bookshops, are lovely, tactile things.
How We Lost Bookshops Thanks to Amazon and Publishers
Tim Waterstone
July 19, 2012
Tactile and open, she makes you feel both important and protective.
The Woman Who Could Bring Down Cameron
Peter Jukes
May 9, 2012
Taurus is tactile, sensual, lush—adjectives ascribed to this auteur.
Zodiac Beast: May 1-7
Starsky + Cox
April 30, 2011

Historical Examples of tactile

Tactile: used for touching; an organ that has the sense of touch.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology
John. B. Smith
There is, I am told, tactile memory as well as visual and aural memory.
Story of My Life
Helen Keller
It was the tactile, not the visual sensations that upset him.
The Lani People
J. F. Bone
Page 54: each of the tactile organ probably should be organs.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900
Various
Sometimes they are transformed into feelers or tactile organs.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan

British Dictionary definitions for tactile

tactile

adjective

of, relating to, affecting, or having a sense of toucha tactile organ; tactile stimuli

rare capable of being touched; tangible

Derived Formstactility (tækˈtɪlɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for tactile

C17: from Latin tactilis, 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 tactile

adj.

1610s, "perceptible to touch," from French tactile, from Latin tactilis "tangible, that may be touched," from tactus, past participle of tangere "to touch" (see tangent). Meaning "of or pertaining to touch" is attested from 1650s.

Medicine definitions for tactile