contact

From Latin contactus, from contingō (“I touch on all sides”), from tangō (“I touch”). Used in English since the 17th century.

• (noun):

  (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/

  (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntækt/

• (verb):

  (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

  (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækt

contact (countable and uncountable, plural contacts)

1. The act of touching physically; being in close association.
   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

     She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.

2. The establishment of communication (with).

   I haven't been in contact with her for years.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     In the old days, […] he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

   • 1989 January, Werner Winter, “On a new claim concerning substratum influence upon Tocharian”, in Central Asiatic Journal‎^[1], volume 33, number 1/2, Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISSN, page 126:

     When written information is unavailable and archeological findings are subject to conflicting interpretations, language data frequently provide the only evidence for prehistoric ethnic and cultural contacts.

3. The situation of being within sight of something; visual contact.
   • 1983, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Government Activities and Transportation Subcommittee, Hazardous Obstructions at San Francisco Airport, page 126:

     If the pilot […] cannot establish visual contact with the ground, he must immediately execute a missed-approach procedure […]

4. A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.

   Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.

5. Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.
   1. (by extension) Means of communication with a person, especially in the form of a telephone number.

   Who is the company's contact for sales queries?

   The salesperson had a whole binder full of contacts for potential clients.

6. (informal) A contact lens.
7. (electricity) A device designed for repetitive connections.
8. (informal, by ellipsis) Contact juggling.

   I bought myself a new contact ball last week

9. (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.^[1]

contact (third-person singular simple present contacts, present participle contacting, simple past and past participle contacted)

1. (transitive) To touch; to come into physical contact with.

   The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.

2. (transitive) To establish communication with (something or someone).

   I am trying to contact my sister.

• The use of contact as a verb was historically occasionally proscribed. Nonetheless, its usefulness and popularity have significantly reduced resistance to it. Nowadays, the verb usage, especially the "communicate with" sense, is universally accepted as standard. See the "Usage Note" at AHD's entry for more information.

From English contact.

contact

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) contact details

contact

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to contact; to establish communication with

• kontakt (superseded)

Borrowed from French contact, from Latin contactus.

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈtɑkt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧tact
• Rhymes: -ɑkt

contact n (plural contacten, diminutive contactje n)

1. physical contact, touching
2. contact (close association)
3. contact (communication, exchange)
4. contact (someone with whom communication has been established)

• contacteren

• Afrikaans: kontak
• → Caribbean Javanese: kontag
• → Indonesian: kontak
• → Javanese: ꦏꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦠꦏ꧀ (kontak)
• → West Frisian: kontakt

Borrowed from Latin contactus.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.takt/

• Audio:

  (file)

contact m (plural contacts)

1. (physical) contact; contact (with another person)
2. contact (person that one knows)
3. rapport

   Vous avez un bon contact avec les enfants. ― You have a good rapport with children.

• clé de contact
• contact visuel
• lentille de contact
• prendre contact

• “contact”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French contact.

• Audio:

  (file)

contact n (plural contacte)

1. contact