touch

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitive

   To put a hand, finger, or other body part on someone or something so there is contact.

   Grammar: Takes an object for direct contact: touch the wall. Without an object it can mean make any contact: their hands touched.

   Patterns

   • touch something gently
   • touch someone on the arm
   • be afraid to touch

   Do not touch the wet paint.

   She touched his sleeve to get his attention.

2. 2verbtransitivefigurative

   To affect someone's feelings strongly, often by kindness, sadness, or closeness.

   Grammar: Always takes an object; the feeling is usually positive or deeply moving, not slight irritation.

   Patterns

   • touch someone deeply
   • be touched by something
   • a story touches readers

   The nurse's patience touched the whole family.

   We were touched by the students' thank-you cards.

3. 3verbtransitive

   To reach or come to a particular level, price, speed, or number.

   Grammar: Takes a level or amount as its object; common in reports of prices, temperature, and records.

   Patterns

   • touch a record high
   • temperatures touch + number
   • sales touch + amount

   Temperatures touched ninety degrees before noon.

   Demand touched a record high in August.

4. 4verbtransitiveformal

   To speak about or deal with a subject only briefly.

   Grammar: Takes an object, often a topic; often used in the negative with on in not touch on something.

   Patterns

   • touch on something
   • barely touch an issue
   • not touch politics

   The report touches on housing only briefly.

   During the interview, he refused to touch the scandal.

5. 5nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of physical contact or the ability to feel things through the skin.

   Grammar: Countable for acts of contact: a light touch. Uncountable for the sense itself: the sense of touch.

   Patterns

   • a gentle touch
   • sense of touch
   • lose touch

   The fabric felt soft to the touch.

   The baby responded to her mother's touch.

6. 6nouncountablefigurative

   A small detail, action, or amount that adds quality or a particular character.

   Grammar: Common in phrases like a nice touch or a finishing touch; it adds something rather than physically contacting anything.

   Patterns

   • a nice touch
   • a finishing touch
   • a touch of salt

   A handwritten note was a nice touch at the party.

   Add a touch of lemon to brighten the soup.

Word forms

Common combinations

touch base with someone

Let me touch base with Maya before we send the proposal.

lose touch

I lost touch with my college roommate after we moved.

a finishing touch

The red ribbon was the finishing touch on the gift.

in touch

Please stay in touch while you are abroad.

Synonyms and how they differ

feel

Closer to sensing texture; touch emphasizes contact with the hand or body.

move

For emotions, move is broader and less specifically tender than touch.

contact

More general and neutral; touch suggests skin contact or closeness.

Opposites

Word family

touching adjective

Causing tender emotion: a touching letter.

touching noun

The act of contact, as in a gentle touching of hands.

touchy adjective

Easily offended, or needing careful handling: a touchy subject.

touchscreen noun

A screen operated by touching it with a finger.

Commonly confused: touch or reach? touch or feel?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “touch”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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