Meaning & use
contact
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The act of communicating or meeting with someone, or being in touch.
Grammar: Often used with in or out of: stay in contact.
Patterns
- contact with someone
- in contact with someone
- lose contact with someone
I have lost contact with my old classmates.
The pilot made contact with the tower just before landing.
Please stay in contact while you are abroad.
noununcountable
The state of two things touching each other.
Grammar: Often used with physical or scientific topics: skin contact.
Patterns
- come into contact with something
- contact between things
Avoid contact with the wet paint.
Contact between the wires caused a spark.
The virus spreads through close contact.
nouncountable
A person you know who can give help, advice or information.
Grammar: Often used in work and networking: a business contact.
Patterns
- a contact in something
She has a contact at the city council who can speed things up.
He built a network of useful contacts in the film industry.
I will give you the name of a contact in Madrid.
verbtransitive
To reach someone by phone, message or in person.
Grammar: Takes a direct object with no preposition: contact me, not contact with me.
Patterns
- contact someone
- contact someone about something
Please contact the office if you have questions.
I tried to contact him by email several times.
They will contact you with the results next week.
Word forms
| plural | contacts |
|---|---|
| third person singular | contacts |
| past tense | contacted |
| past participle | contacted |
| -ing form | contacting |
Common combinations
- make contact
- The explorers finally made contact with the base.
- eye contact
- She kept strong eye contact during the interview.
- contact details
- Please leave your contact details at the desk.
- keep in contact
- We keep in contact by video call.
- close contact
- Those in close contact with the patient were tested.
- contact lens
- He lost a contact lens in the pool.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reach
- Reach as a verb suggests succeeding in getting through to someone, whereas contact only describes the attempt or the act of getting in touch.
- get in touch with
- Get in touch with is a more casual phrase, and it needs the preposition with, unlike the verb contact.
- connection
- Connection, as a noun for a person, suggests someone who can help you, with a sense of shared links.
- touch
- Touch is the physical sense and is less likely to mean communication than contact.
Opposites
Word family
- contactable adjective
- able to be reached
- contactless adjective
- working without touching, such as a payment card
- noncontact adjective
- not involving touching
- contacts noun
- a list of people in a phone or address book
Commonly confused: contact or contract?
contact vs contract
A contract is a formal agreement, while contact is communication or touch; they are often mistyped for one another.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
As a verb, contact takes a direct object with no preposition. With, to and at are all incorrect here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “contact”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.