tact

Etymology 1

table Borrowed from French tact, following a semantic shift from earlier tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), borrowed from Latin tāctus (“touched”). The borrowing was likely influenced by earlier English tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), which was a parallel borrowing directly from the Latin.

noun

1. 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.
   By the use of tact, she was able to calm her jealous husband.
   I used tact when I told my fat uncle that his extra weight made him look better.
2. Propriety; manners (etiquette).

Etymology 2

table Directly borrowed from Latin tāctus.

noun

1. The sense of touch; feeling.
   Now, sight is a very refined tact. 1881, Joseph LeConte, Sight: An Exposition on the Principles of Monocular and Binocular Vision
2. (music) The stroke in beating time.
3. (psychology) 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).
   Skinner (1957) saw such tacts as responses that are reinforced socially. 2013, Jacob L. Gewirtz, William M. Kurtines, Jacob L. Lamb, Intersections With Attachment

verb

1. (psychology) To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant).

Etymology 3

noun

1. (slang) Clipping of tactic.
   Wanda "Hey, can you show us?" Karen "No" Brent "We promise not to make fun of you." Karen "No" Lacey "Okay, we promise TO make fun of you." Karen "I'm getting a drink" Lacey "I was trying a different tact." Wanda "Bad tack." 2006, “Block Party”, in Corner Gas