contact

(kŏn'tăkt')
n.

1. 1. A coming together or touching, as of objects or surfaces.
   2. The state or condition of touching or of immediate proximity: Litmus paper turns red on contact with an acid.
2. 1. Connection or interaction; communication: still in contact with my former employer.
   2. Visual observation: The pilot made contact with the ship.
   3. Association; relationship: came into contact with new ideas at college.
3. A person who might be of use; a connection: The reporter met with her contact at the mayor's office.
4. 1. A connection between two conductors that permits a flow of current or heat.
   2. A part or device that makes or breaks such a connection.
5. Medicine. A person recently exposed to a contagious disease, usually through close association with an infected individual.
6. A contact lens.

v., -tact·ed, -tact·ing, -tacts. (kŏn'tăkt', kən-tăkt')

v.tr.

1. To bring or put in contact.
2. To get in touch with; communicate with: "This past January I was contacted by a lawyer who said he needed my help" (Elizabeth Loftus).

v.intr.
To be in or come into contact.

adj.

1. Of, sustaining, or making contact.
2. Caused or transmitted by touching: a contact skin rash.

[Latin contāctus, from past participle of contingere, to touch, from past participle of contingere, to touch : com-, com- + tangere, to touch.]

contactual con·tac'tu·al (kən-tăk'chū-əl) adj.
contactually con·tac'tu·al·ly adv.

USAGE NOTE   The verb contact is a classic example of a verb that was made from a noun and of a new usage that was initially frowned upon. The noun meaning "the state or condition of touching" was introduced in 1626 by Francis Bacon. Some 200 years later it spawned a verb meaning "to bring or place in contact." This sense of the verb has lived an unremarkable life in technical contexts. It was only in the first quarter of the 20th century that contact came to be used to mean "to communicate with," and soon afterward the controversy began. Contact was declared to be properly a noun, not a verb, and moreover to be vague when used as a verb. However, turning nouns into verbs is one of the most frequent ways in which new verbs enter English. Sometimes there is resistance to such verbs, but often, especially when a term seems free of association with the jargon of business or bureaucracy, acceptance comes more freely, as with curb, date, elbow, interview, panic, and park. Contact is but another instance of what linguists call functional shift from one part of speech to another. As for the vagueness of contact, this seems a virtue in an age in which forms of communication have proliferated. The sentence We will contact you when the part comes in allows for a variety of possible ways to communicate: by mail, telephone, computer, or fax. • Despite the lengthy history of disapproval of contact by language critics, the verb's usefulness and popularity appear to have worn down resistance to it. In 1969, only 34 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the use of contact as a verb, but in a recent survey 65 percent of the Panel accepted it in the sentence She immediately called an officer at the Naval Intelligence Service, who in turn contacted the FBI. See Usage Notes at impact.

View more Health videos

Any of the four stages that mark the start or end of an eclipse, occultation, or transit. First contact is the instant when an eclipse, occultation, or transit begins. Second contact is the instant that totality begins in a total solar or total lunar eclipse. Third contact is the instant that totality ends. Fourth contact is the instant at which an eclipse, occultation, or transit ends.

A metal strip in a switch or socket that touches a corresponding strip in order to make a connection for current to pass. Contacts may be made of precious metals to avoid corrosion.

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your PC, iPhone or Android.

noun

1. A coming together so as to be touching: contingence, touch. See touch/not touch.
2. A situation allowing exchange of ideas or messages: communication, intercommunication, touch. See connect, touch/not touch.
3. An acquaintance who is in a position to help: connection, source. See connect.

verb

1. To bring into or make contact with: touch. See touch/not touch.
2. To succeed in communicating with: get, reach. Idioms: catch up with, get hold of, get in touch with, get through to, get to. See reach/unreachable.

n

Definition: touching
Antonyms: avoidance

v

Definition: communicate with
Antonyms: avoid

A contact is a person or animal that has been in association with a disease-infected person or animal in such a way as to have had an opportunity to acquire the infection and be capable of transmitting it. A contact may not be ill or have any overt signs or symptoms of infection, yet may nevertheless transmit the infection to others who are susceptible to the infection. The word also describes the mode of transmission of infection, which may be either by direct (person-to-person) or indirect contact. Indirect contact includes transmission of infection via contaminated clothing or utensils, through an intermediary living creature such as a rat or domestic animal, or by insect vectors in which the infectious pathogen passes part of its life cycle.

Symptomless, and apparently healthy, infected individuals are a very important category of contacts. Many sexually transmitted diseases, many food-borne gastrointestinal infections, and several of the common infectious diseases are spread by apparently healthy contacts. Contact tracing is therefore an essential part of the process of surveillance and control of communicable diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases. Quarantine was once a common method of restricting the movements of known contacts of contagious diseases such as diphtheria, and of diseases erroneously believed to be contagious, notably poliomyelitis.

(SEE ALSO: Carrier; Communicable Disease Control; Contagion; Cordon Sanitaire; Quarantine)

— JOHN M. LAST

---

A part which is an electric conductor and which provides a low-resistance path for current flow upon mating with another conducting part with which it is designed to operate.

---

Current carrying part of a switch, relay or connector.

(DOD) 1. In air intercept, a term meaning, "Unit has an unevaluated target." 2. In health services, an unevaluated individual who is known to have been sufficiently near an infected individual to have been exposed to the transfer of infectious material.

i. An air traffic control term, which, when transmitted on the radio, means “Establish radio contact with . . . .”
ii. Visual contact by the pilot with another aircraft (friendly, hostile, or unidentified), or object, or target on the ground.
iii. To pick up the target on radar.
iv. A warning call by the pilot when starting a piston engine to the person swinging the propeller to indicate that the ignition system is about to be put on.
v. A mechanical hookup between a tanker and a receiver aircraft.
vi. The act of an aircraft touching down on a runway or another surface after being airborne, as in “the moment of contact.”
vii. Flying in weather and at an altitude from where ground features can be seen continuously, as in contact flying.

---

1. a mutual touching of two bodies or animals.
2. an animal known to have been sufficiently near an infected animal to have been exposed to the transfer of infectious material.

• c. activation — the initiation of the intrinsic pathway of coagulation that occurs when whole blood contacts glass or similar surfaces; involves the conversion of factor XII into its active form, factor XIIa. This subsequently converts factor XI to XIa and so the coagulation cascade begins.
• c. allergy — see contact dermatitis (below).
• bone c. repair — repair of a fracture by contact apposition of the two fracture surfaces.
• c. dermatitis — is caused by direct contact between the skin and a substance which is irritating or to which the animal is allergic or sensitive. The reaction usually occurs only on that area of the body that has come into contact with the substance. See also allergic contact dermatitis.
• direct c., immediate c. — the contact, by sharing the same accommodation or pasture or group, of a healthy animal with an animal having a communicable disease, the disease being transmitted as a result. See also contact transmission.
• c. healing — a form of primary bone healing at a fracture site where there is cortical bone in contact.
• c. hypersensitivity — see allergic contact dermatitis.
• indirect c. — that achieved through some intervening medium, as propagation of a communicable disease through the air or by means of fomites or another animal, e.g. an infection may be passed to animal A from animal B via animal C; animal C is an indirect contact.
• c. irritant dermatitis — skin disease produced by contact with an irritating substance; in contrast with allergic contact dermatitis, an immune reaction is not involved.
• mediate c. — indirect contact.

n

The act of touching or meeting.

For a list of words related to contact, see:

• Electricity and Electronics - contact: connection of touching but not soldered electric conductors, usu. metal

---

See words rhyming with "contact."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Contact.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kontakt, kontaktperson, berøring, mulig smittebærer
v. tr. - kontakte, sætte sig i forbindelse med
v. intr. - mødes
adj. - kontakt-

idioms:

• be in contact with    være i kontakt med
• contact lens    kontaktlinser
• contact sport    kontaktsport

Nederlands (Dutch)
contact(-persoon), aanraking, omgang, (mv) contactlenzen, potentiële drager (van ziekte), contact opnemen met

Français (French)
n. - (lit, fig) contact, contact (par radar, radio), (gén) connaissance, (Élec) contact, verres de contact, (Phot) épreuve par contact, planche contact, (Méd) personne ayant approché un malade contagieux
v. tr. - contacter, se mettre en rapport avec
v. intr. - contacter, se mettre en rapport avec
adj. - par contact, contacté

idioms:

• be in contact with    être en contact avec
• contact lens    lentilles de contact
• contact sport    sport de contact

Deutsch (German)
v. - sich wenden an, sich in Verbindung setzen mit
n. - Kontakt, Berührung, Verbindung, Verbindungsmann, (ugs.) Kontaktlinse
adj. - bei Berührung oder Kontakt entstehend

idioms:

• be in contact with    in Kontakt stehen mit, berühren
• contact lens    Kontaktlinse
• contact sport    Kontaktsport

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - έρχομαι σε επαφή, επικοινωνώ με
n. - επαφή, επικοινωνία, (ηλεκτρική) επαφή, (μτφ.) χρήσιμη γνωριμία (κν. δόντι, μέσο), (καθομ.) φακός επαφής

idioms:

• be in contact with    βρίσκομαι σε επαφή με
• contact lens    (οπτ.) φακός επαφής
• contact sport    άθλημα που προϋποθέτει σωματική επαφή των αντιπάλων

Italiano (Italian)
prendere contatto con, contattare, mettersi in comunicazione con, contatto, relazione, lente a contatto

idioms:

• be in contact with    essere in contatto con
• contact lens    lente a contatto
• contact sport    sport corpo-a-corpo
• lose contact with    perdere i contatti con, perdere di vista

Português (Portuguese)
v. - contatar
n. - contato (m)

idioms:

• be in contact with    estar em contato com
• contact lens    lente (f) de contato
• contact sport    esporte (m) de contato
• lose contact with    perder contato com

Русский (Russian)
контактировать, связываться, контакт, связь, заразившийся, контактная линза

idioms:

• be in contact with    поддерживать отношения с
• contact lens    контактная линза
• contact sport    контактный спорт
• lose contact with    утратить связь с

Español (Spanish)
n. - contacto, toque, choque, relación, enlace, representación, lente de contacto, lentilla
v. tr. - contactar con, poner o estar en contacto con
v. intr. - ponerse en comunicación con, establecer contacto
adj. - perteneciente o relacionado con las comunicaciones o enlaces

idioms:

• be in contact with    estar en comunicación con, estar en contacto con
• contact lens    lentes de contacto, lentillas
• contact sport    deporte de contacto personal

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - komma i kontakt med
n. - kontakt, bekantskap, kontaktman, eventuell smittbärare (med.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
接触, 联系, 交际, 会晤, 接触的, 接触传染的, 有联系的

idioms:

• be in contact with    与某人在接触中, 与某人联系中
• contact lens    隐形眼镜
• contact sport    身体接触的体育项目

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 接觸, 聯繫
v. tr. - 接觸, 聯繫
v. intr. - 接觸, 交際, 會晤
adj. - 接觸的, 接觸傳染的, 有聯繫的

idioms:

• be in contact with    與某人在接觸中, 與某人聯繫中
• contact lens    隱形眼鏡
• contact sport    身體接觸的體育項目

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 접촉, 교제, 교신
v. tr. - 접촉시키다
v. intr. - 접촉하다, 교제하다, 교신하다
adj. - 접촉의, 유시계의

idioms:

• be in contact with    ~와 접촉하고 있다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 連絡する, 接触する
n. - 接触, 触れ合い, 連絡, 接点, 縁故, 保菌容疑者

idioms:

• be in contact with    接触している, と近しくしている
• contact lens    コンタクトレンズ
• contact sport    格闘技

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) اتصل ب, راجع, خابر, وصل التيار الكهربائي (الاسم) تماس, , اتصال, احتكاك‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מגע, קשר, אדם שיש להתקשר איתו לקבלת מידע, אספקה וכו', אדם העלול להדביק במחלה, איש קשר, עדשת מגע, חיבור חשמלי‬
v. tr. - ‮קשר, יצר קשר‬
v. intr. - ‮התקשר עם‬
adj. - ‮נוצר במגע או בקירבה‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.