Tactile

WORD OF THE DAY


tactile \ TAK-tul \ adjective


Definition
1a : perceptible by touch
1b: tangible
2: of, relating to, or being the sense of touch


Examples
"The keyboard has good tactile feedback, and the touch pad is responsive without being too twitchy."
— Bruce Brown, PC Magazine, 20 Feb. 2001


"Sensitive 'robot skin' was developed by researchers at Georgia Tech in 2014. The skin makes use of flexible touch sensors that communicate with a memory device that can store tactile interactions, mimicking human sensory memory."
— Karen Turner, The San Diego Union Tribune, 29 May 2016
 
Did You Know?
Tangible is related to tactile, and so are intact, tact, contingent, tangent, and even entire. There's also the uncommon noun taction, meaning "the act of touching." Like tactile, all of these words can be traced back to the Latin verb tangere, meaning "to touch."
Tactile was adopted by English speakers in the early 17th century (possibly by way of the French tactile) from the Latin adjective tactilis ("tangible"). Tactilis comes from tactus, a past participle of tangere.