adjective
preposition
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of touching
Explanation
Something that is touching affects you emotionally—it makes you feel sad or tender. A touching video about baby hedgehogs might even make your stoic older sister cry. The adjective touching comes from a particular meaning of the verb touch, "to affect or move mentally or emotionally," from the idea that something has "touched" your mind or heart. Your book report might describe the story you read as touching if it left you wiping away a tear.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But this time, they pointedly clenched their fists into tight balls to avoid touching one another.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
The virus can be spread between humans who come into contact with an infected person’s blood or fluids or by touching contaminated surfaces.
From MarketWatch • May 17, 2026
But despite sterling, intermittently touching performances from both actors, the play feels less convincing than those similar two-character dramas.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
Shrinking it more aggressively could tighten financial conditions without touching rates, giving him a tool to satisfy the inflation-focused hawks while preserving the option to cut rates later.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
That was why she couldn’t stop touching her wound.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
