tactful

English

Etymology

From tact +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæktfəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

tactful (comparative more tactful, superlative most tactful)

1. Possessing tact; able to deal with people in a sensitive manner.

   Antonym: tactless

   • 1984 December 29, Duncan Mitchel, “The Cult of Gay Machismo”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 9:

     I once found myself listening to a gay man who was saying wistfully, "I wish there was someplace you could go, maybe a club, where only masculine men would be allowed in." […] Ever tactful, I did not point out to him that if such a place existed, he probably would not be allowed into it.

Derived terms

• tactfully
• tactfulness

Translations

possessing tact

Bulgarian: тактичен (bg) (taktičen) Catalan: discret (ca) Czech: taktní (cs) Dutch: tactvol (nl) Finnish: tahdikas (fi), hienotunteinen (fi) French: plein de tact, diplomatique (fr) German: taktvoll (de) Hungarian: tapintatos (hu), diszkrét (hu), diplomatikus (hu) Kazakh: бипаз (bipaz) Maori: matawhāiti, whakahangahanga Persian: سنجیده (fa), با ظرافت Polish: taktowny (pl) Russian: такти́чный (ru) (taktíčnyj), дипломати́чный (ru) (diplomatíčnyj) Spanish: discreto (es), diplomático (es), de / con mucho tacto, táctil (es), con gracia Ukrainian: такто́вний (taktóvnyj) Vietnamese: khôn khéo (vi)