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TOUCHING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of putting two things together with no space between them
Example:
at his touch the room filled with lights
Synonyms:
touch; touching
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("touching" is a kind of...):
act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "touching"):
grazing; shaving; skimming (the act of brushing against while passing)
lap; lick (touching with the tongue)
tag ((sports) the act of touching a player in a game (which changes their status in the game))
stroke; stroking (a light touch with the hands)
tickle; tickling; titillation (the act of tickling)
palpation; tactual exploration (a method of examination in which the examiner feels the size or shape or firmness or location of something (of body parts when the examiner is a health professional))
grope (the act of groping; and instance of groping)
fingering (touching something with the fingers)
handling; manipulation (the action of touching with the hands (or the skillful use of the hands) or by the use of mechanical means)
catch; grab; snap; snatch (the act of catching an object with the hands)
buss; kiss; osculation (the act of caressing with the lips (or an instance thereof))
kiss (a light glancing touch)
dig; jab (the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow)
hit; hitting; striking (the act of contacting one thing with another)
dab; pat; tap (a light touch or stroke)
contact; physical contact (the act of touching physically)
Derivation:
touch (make physical contact with, come in contact with)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The event of something coming in contact with the body
Example:
the cooling touch of the night air
Synonyms:
touch; touching
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("touching" is a kind of...):
contact; impinging; striking (the physical coming together of two or more things)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "touching"):
brush; light touch (momentary contact)
stroke (a light touch)
Derivation:
touch (perceive via the tactile sense)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Arousing affect
Example:
his gratitude was simple and touching
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
moving (arousing or capable of arousing deep emotion)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb touch
Context examples:
She approached her face to the palm, and pored over it without touching it.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects.
(New coronavirus stable for hours on surface, National Institutes of Health)
Inhaling or touching mold or mold spores may cause allergic reactions or asthma attacks in sensitive people.
(Molds, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
I remember once, on deck, in bright day, touching him on the shoulder as preliminary to giving an order.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
You can get a cold by touching your eyes or nose after you touch surfaces with cold germs on them.
(Common Cold, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
“We’d start with our swingle-bars touching, and we’d have your dinner ordered, cooked, laid, and eaten before you were there to claim it.”
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The act of touching physically; the physical coming together of two or more things.
(Physical Contact, NCI Thesaurus)
Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Does the patient describe feeling things on his/her skin or otherwise appear to be feeling things crawling or touching him/her?
(NPI - Describe Feeling Things on His/Her Skin, NCI Thesaurus)
The maids of honour often invited Glumdalclitch to their apartments, and desired she would bring me along with her, on purpose to have the pleasure of seeing and touching me.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
‘Thank you, sir,’ said the seaman, touching his forelock.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
