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

Related Words for tactility

lick, tap, taste, communication, collision, stroke, caress, embrace, brush, crash, blow, pat, percussion, feel, scratch, hug, impact, perception, hit, rub

Examples from the Web for tactility

Historical Examples of tactility

In adaptation to the darkness, in which there is only luminescence that eyes could use, there is a great development of tactility.
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4)
J. Arthur Thomson
The picture contains movement in the vital sense, and possesses a tactility as great as a Giorgione done with modern means.
Modern Painting, Its Tendency and Meaning
Willard Huntington Wright

British Dictionary definitions for tactility

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 tactility

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.

tactility in Medicine