Word Finder - tact

definition

The sense of touch; feeling.

definition

The stroke in beating time.

definition

Sensitive mental touch; special skill or faculty; keen perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances; the ability to say the right thing.

example

By the use of tact, she was able to calm her jealous husband.

synonyms

• consideration
• diplomacy
• sensitivity
• tactfulness

definition

A verbal operant which is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise).

definition

To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).

definition

A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.

synonyms

• course of action
• maneuver
• plan
• scheme
• stratagem

definition

A maneuver used against an enemy.

definition

A sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and results in an immediate and tangible advantage, typically in the form of material.

This miracle was achieved by tact and management.

He had constant encounters with the mob, but his tact and courage never failed.

His tact was equal to his learning.

It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful.

The dukedom offered him by George II., whose ill-will his fine tact had overcome, was refused.

What the man lacked in tact and diplomacy, he made up for in eloquence.

He was not a notable scholar, and he had not much of what is usually called tact in his dealings either with the juvenile or the adult mind.

The task of constructing a system of government from the bottom, of reconciling the conflicting and often jealously sensitive elements, called for tact, firmness, industry and deep insight into human nature, all of which Governor Taft displayed in a marked degree.

At the close of 1794 he also used his tact and eloquence on behalf of the restoration of the surviving Girondins to the Convention, from which they had been driven by the coup d'etat of the 3 1st of May 1793.

Further he had an engaging geniality of manner and much tact in dealing with men.

Duke John of Saxony had placed him on the commission for church visitation in Thuringia, and in 1529 appointed him pastor and superintendent at Eisenach, where for eighteen years he administered church affairs with tact, and fostered the spread of education.

Prince Andrew noticed, however, that though what happened was due to chance and was independent of the commander's will, owing to the tact Bagration showed, his presence was very valuable.

A detailed examination of mountain floras shows that a large local element is present in each besides the arctic. The one is in tact the result of similar physical conditions to that which has produced the other.

It was chiefly owing to his skill and courage as a parliamentary debater and his tact as a leader that the party held its own and constantly increased in numbers during the great struggle with the Prussian government.

His fine presence and his tact on ceremonial occasions rendered the state some service when in 1896 he received the Tsar of Russia at Paris, and in 1897 returned his visit, after which meeting the momentous Franco-Russian alliance was publicly announced.

It soon became necessary to create the important post of chief dragoman at the Porte, and there was no choice save to appoint a Greek, as no other race in Turkey combined the requisite knowledge of languages with the tact and adroitness essential for conducting diplomatic negotiations.

He held high appointments at court, and was, from 1834 onwards, perpetual secretary of the Swedish academy, using his great influence with tact and generosity.

A lifelong Southern Democrat, he was forced to lead (nominally at least) a party of Northern Republicans, with whom he had no bond of sympathy save a common opposition to secession; and his ardent, aggressive convictions and character, above all his complete lack of tact, unfitted him to deal successfully with the passionate partisanship of Congress.

In this place his tact and temper, his dexterity and discrimination, enabled him to do good service, and he was rewarded with Walpole's friendship, a Garter and the place of lord high steward.

Her failure was due partly to the commercial jealousy of Corinth working on the dull antipathy of Sparta, partly to the hatred of compromise and discipline which was fatally characteristic of Greece and especially of Ionian Greece, and partly also to the lack of tact and restraint shown by Athens and her representatives in her relations with the allies.

But her past was in her favour, and so were her sex and her Tudor tact, which checked the growth of discontent and made Essex's rebellion a ridiculous fiasco.

Flechier, by his leniency and tact, succeeded in bringing over some of them to his views, and even gained the esteem of those who declined to change their faith.

In after life he retained a lively feeling of interest in Winchester school, and remembered with admiration and profit the regulative tact of Dr Goddard, and the preceptorial ability of Dr Gabell, who were successively head-masters during his stay there.

On one point both friends and enemies agree, and that is his brusquerie and his want of tact in the management of men; Oncken points out with some reason the "schoolmasterish" tone of his letters, even to the king.

Though few excelled him in a knowledge of the forms of the House or in mastery of administrative details, his tact in dealing with men and with affairs was so defective that there is perhaps no one who has been at the head of an English administration to whom a lower place can be assigned as a statesman.

He now entered, unaided save by his own unerring tact and vivid apprehension, upon a course of study which, in two years, placed him on a level with the greatest of his contemporaries.

Coming to the throne at such an early age, he had served no apprenticeship in the art of ruling, but he possessed great natural tact and a sound judgment ripened by the trials of exile.

Dr Samuel Jebb included antiquarian notices as well as literary reviews in his Bibliotheca literaria (1722-1724), previously mentioned, but the Gentleman's Magazine, founded in 1731, fully established, through the tact and energy of the publisher Edward Cave, the type of the magazine, from that time so marked a feature of English periodical literature.

With infinite tact and admirable self-denial he gave free scope to ministers whose superiority in their various departments he frankly recognized, rarely interfering personally unless absolutely called upon to do so.

The Athenian contingent which was sent to aid Pausanias in the task of driving the Persians finally out of the Thraceward towns was under the command of the Athenians, Aristides and Cimon, men of tact and probity.

Knowledge, intrepidity and tact carried Parkman through these experiences unscathed, and good luck kept him clear of encounters with hostile Indians, in which these qualities might not have sufficed to avert destruction.

His sincerity, his eloquence, his tact, his devotion, his power, were recognized on all hands.

His tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope to be present at the coronation (it was only eight months after the execution of the duc d'Enghien) received further recognition.

In the general confusion following on Charles Albert's defeat on the Mincio and his retreat to Milan, where the people rose against the unhappy king, Fanti's courage and tact saved the situation.

Though it was unintelligible why he had told it, or why it had to be told in Russian, still Anna Pavlovna and the others appreciated Prince Hippolyte's social tact in so agreeably ending Pierre's unpleasant and unamiable outburst.

And above all, what tact and grace! thought Mademoiselle Bourienne.

He owed his escape from the violence of competitors and nobles, partly to the tact and undaunted bravery of his mother Maria de Molina, and partly to the loyalty of the citizens of Avila, who gave him refuge within their walls.

He displayed his political tact in the choice of the American delegation, which was led by Secretary Hughes and included, besides Elihu Root, two members of the Senate, Lodge and Underwood, the Republican and Democratic leaders respectively.

Gallatin worked at his new task with his usual industry, tact and patience, but the results were meagre, although an open breach on the delicate question of the north-east boundary of the United States was avoided by referring it to the arbitration of the king of the Netherlands.

We know with how much truth, fulness and decision, and with how much tact and delicacy, the queen, aided by Prince Albert, took a principal part on behalf .of the nation in the painful question of the Spanish marriages."

The greed of the three partitioning powers very nearly led to a rupture between Austria and Prussia; but the tact and statesmanship of the empress of Russia finally adjusted all difficulties.

In the negotiations with Germany, it was clearly seen that it was from that side that the pope expected intervention in favour of restitution; and, according to all appearances, Bismarck did for a while keep alive these representations, though with more tact than candour.

The literary tact which is so remarkable in the extant speeches is that of a singularly flexible intelligence, always obedient to an instinct of gracefulness.

His speeches, sermons and lectures, delivered during his tour, were printed in a volume of 400 pages, and show an extraordinary power of rising to the occasion and of speaking with sympathy and tact.

Landing at Reggio di Calabria he hastened to Monza, where he conducted with firmness and tact the preparations for the burial of King Humbert and for his own formal accession, which took place on the 9th and nth of August 1900.

The figure of the path of con tact is that traced on a fixed plane by the tracing-point, when the rolling curve is rotated in such a manner as always to touch a fixed straight line EIE (or EIE, as the case may be) at a fixed point I (or I).

We can occasionally, however, discern traces of his tact and remarkable prudence; and, on the whole, his attitude, particularly with regard to the Union question, recommended him to James.

The new president showed admirable tact in dealing with the difficult problem he was called upon to face.

Charles's tenacity and clever tact were now rewarded.

The degree of tact ranged from courteous to downright rude.