contactless

adjective

con·​tact·​less ˈkän-ˌtakt-ləs 

: not involving contact: such as

a

: not requiring touching or interaction between people

contactless meal delivery

… many retailers and restaurants have rolled out home delivery along with contactless options, leaving food orders and grocery deliveries on door steps.

—Dawson White

b

: relating to or being a technological system (as for making payments) where information is transmitted over short distances (as by near field communication) without physical contact

… hold your phone in front of the contactless payment scanner to authorize the purchase.

—Robert Patrick

Contactless payment cards are not in wide circulation. Instead, consumers are increasingly making electronic payments with their cellular phones …

—Chad Bray and Reuben Kyama

Examples of contactless in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Soft Space Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Soft Space offers contactless mobile payments and e-wallet services for businesses. —Forbes Asia Team, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025

Only full adult fares can be purchased with the contactless credit cards. —Kyle Martin, Mercury News, 20 Aug. 2025

With the rise of technology, however, more businesses around the country are refusing cash payments in favor of contactless methods. —Evan Moore august 19, Charlotte Observer, 19 Aug. 2025

Looking ahead, the team aims to link multiple levitation units with a propulsion mechanism to create mobile robots for contactless delivery. —Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for contactless

• abs
• acquiesce
• ancestress
• authoress
• coalesce
• decompress
• dispossess
• faithfulness
• letterpress
• mayoress
• murderess
• nonetheless