Meaning & use
tactile feedback
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Meanings
noununcountable
A physical sensation felt through the skin, especially one produced by a device to tell the user that something has happened.
Grammar: Used without an or an and without a plural: The phone gives tactile feedback.
Patterns
- give tactile feedback
- provide tactile feedback
- tactile feedback from something
When you press the button, the phone gives a short pulse of tactile feedback.
The new game controller uses tactile feedback to let players feel rough ground.
Engineers tested the car's tactile feedback to make sure drivers could feel the warning.
noununcountabletechnical
Information about an object or surface that you get by touching it, rather than by seeing or hearing it.
Grammar: Often used in technical descriptions of how people or machines explore the world.
Patterns
- rely on tactile feedback
- use tactile feedback
- tactile feedback from a surface
Blind readers use tactile feedback from raised dots to recognize letters.
The robot arm adjusts its grip based on tactile feedback from its sensors.
Surgeons need good tactile feedback to feel how much pressure they are applying.
Common combinations
- haptic feedback
- Many smartphones use haptic feedback instead of a physical keyboard.
- provide tactile feedback
- The steering wheel provides tactile feedback when you drift out of your lane.
- tactile feedback sensor
- A tactile feedback sensor detects how hard the robot is pressing.
- lack of tactile feedback
- Typing on a flat screen can be hard because of the lack of tactile feedback.
Synonyms and how they differ
- haptic feedback
- A more technical term for the same idea, often used for technology that creates a sense of touch; tactile feedback is broader and can also describe natural touch.
- touch sensation
- Focuses on the feeling itself rather than on information sent back to a user; tactile feedback usually implies a system or device.
Word family
Commonly confused: tactile feedback or haptic feedback?
tactile feedback vs haptic feedback
Haptic feedback is the more specialized term for technology that creates touch sensations; tactile feedback is a wider phrase that also covers natural touch.
Practice
The new controller uses _____ to let players feel the texture of the ground.
Choose one answer.
Tactile feedback is uncountable, so it is used without an or an and without a plural. 'A tactile feedback' and 'tactile feedbacks' are both incorrect because you cannot count it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tactile feedback”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.