Tactile has many relatives in English, from the oft-synonymous tangible to familiar words like intact, tact, tangent, contingent, and even entire. All of these can be traced back to the Latin verb tangere, meaning “to touch.” Tactile was adopted by English speakers in the early 1600s (possibly by way of the French tactile) from the Latin adjective tactilis (“tangible”). In light of tactile having tangere for a touchstone, its dual senses of “perceptible by touch” and “of, relating to, or being the sense of touch” are perfectly sensible. Since the advent of film, television, and, ahem, touchscreens, a new sense also appears to be developing, as tactile is increasingly used to suggest that something visual is particularly evocative or suggestive of a certain texture.
Examples of tactile in a Sentence
He not only had visual difficulties but tactile ones, too—witness his grasping his wife's head and mistaking it for a hat …—Oliver Sacks, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2002There is a tactile and therefore somatic dimension to stroking the chalk that keeps the artist in constant, responsible and responsive touch with his emerging creation.—Jed Perl, New Republic, 17 June 2002The keyboard has good tactile feedback, and the touch pad is responsive without being too twitchy.—Bruce Brown, PC Magazine, 20 Feb. 2001… nothing prepared me for the tactile reality of the original volumes, leaf after carefully written leaf over which his hand had travelled …—Edmund Morris, New Yorker, 16 Jan. 1995Near midday the heat of the sun bounced up from the bare patches of soil to hit with an almost tactile force.—Edward O. Wilson, Smithsonian, October 1984
The thick brushstrokes give the painting a tactile quality.
Recent Examples on the WebThere’s a luxuriantly sensuous quality to the prose of British novelist Deborah Levy — a tactile grasp of land, weather and flesh — that feels intensely cinematic while reading it, as well as an elliptical, concentrated interior psychology that feels liable to trip up any potential adapters.—Guy Lodge, Variety, 3 Feb. 2024 This cool smartphone case throws it back to tactile texting.—Rudie Obias, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2024 This winter, the biggest trend worth paying attention to is chic staples wrapped in tactile sensations to keep peak coziness quite literally right at your fingertips.—Wendy Vazquez, Southern Living, 11 Jan. 2024 For tactile readers, their sense of touch is their vision.—Cassandra Runyon, The Conversation, 22 Mar. 2024 This can manifest as a longing for tactile sensations, including hugs, cuddles, hand-holding or other forms of physical intimacy.—Mark Travers, Forbes, 18 Feb. 2024 It’s adorned with tactile patterns and the image of an animal resembling a horse.—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2024 Gabriel tried to distract himself with the tactile sensations of farming: wet dirt stiffening his hands and massing under his nails; cold creeping through his jeans and long underwear; humidity swelling through his sinuses.—Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2024 Textures of Spring Fashion: From woolly tweeds to smooth silk, tactile fabrics make for a highly sensational season.—New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tactile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
French or Latin; French, from Latin tactilis, from tangere to touch — more at tangent entry 2
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