# contact

Pronunciation: US say "KAHN-takt" /ˈkɑntækt/; UK say "KON-takt" /ˈkɒntækt/

## Verb

1. To establish communication with a person or organization, as by telephone, email, or letter.
   - Simple: To get in touch with someone by phone, email, or another way.
   - _Investigators contacted everyone who attended the event that night._
   - _You can contact our support team through the app at any hour._
7. To touch; to come into direct physical connection with something.
   - Simple: To touch something, or to come together with it physically.
   - _The probe gently contacted the asteroid's surface before collecting a sample._
   - _The electrode must not contact the housing during assembly._

## Noun

2. The act or state of physical touching, or of being in close association.
   - Simple: When two things or people touch each other, or stay close together.
   - _The chemical is dangerous on contact with bare skin._
   - _Years of close contact with the local community shaped her research._
3. Communication with a person, group, or organization, whether newly established or ongoing.
   - Simple: When you reach someone or stay in touch with them.
   - _After years without contact, the two brothers finally reconciled._
   - _Mission control reestablished contact with the spacecraft after a tense forty minutes._
4. A person who can be reached for communication, or with whom one is already in communication.
   - Simple: A person you know and can reach when you need help or information.
   - _The journalist refused to name her contact inside the ministry._
   - _Years of conferences left him with contacts in nearly every major lab._
5. A means of communicating with a person, especially in the form of a telephone number.
   - Simple: A phone number or other way to reach a person.
   - _The only contact we have for her landlord is an old cell number that goes straight to voicemail._
   - _The only contact listed on the charity's website was a general email address._
6. A thin corrective lens worn directly on the eyeball rather than in frames. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A small, clear piece of plastic you wear on your eye to help you see.
   - _He switched from glasses to contacts during high school._
   - _One contact kept drifting whenever her eyes got dry._
8. The condition of being within sight of someone or something, so that it can be seen directly.
   - Simple: Being able to see something or someone from where you are.
   - _Descending through the overcast, the crew made visual contact with the runway at four hundred feet._
   - _From the tower, the guards had clear visual contact with every corner of the yard._
9. A part of an electrical device that touches another part to complete a circuit, as in a switch, relay, or connector.
   - Simple: A small metal part in an electrical device that touches another part to let electricity flow.
   - _Corrosion on a single contact can interrupt the entire circuit._
   - _The cartridge slides in until its contacts meet the pins on the board._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The plane or surface along which two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock meet.
- (noun) A style of juggling in which balls are rolled and balanced over the hands and body rather than thrown and caught.

## Origin

English has had the word since the 1600s. Its source is Latin contactus, formed from contingō, "I touch on every side," which is built on tangō, "I touch."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/contact (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).