From Latin contactus, from contingō, from tangō.

• (America) IPA: /ˈkɑntækt/

  (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒntækt/

  (America) IPA: /ˈkɑntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

  (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

contact

1. The act of touching physically; being in close association.
2. The establishment of communication (with).

   I haven't been in contact with her for years.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     In the old days, […] he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

3. The situation of being within sight of something; visual contact.
4. A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.

   Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.

5. Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.
   1. (by extension) Means of communication with a person, especially in the form of a telephone number.

   Who is the company's contact for sales queries?

   The salesperson had a whole binder full of contacts for potential clients.

6. (informal) A contact lens.
7. (electricity) A device designed for repetitive connections.
8. (informal, by ellipsis) Contact juggling.

   I bought myself a new contact ball last week

9. (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.

• French: contact
• German: Kontakt, Berührung
• Italian: contatto, aggancio
• Portuguese: contato (Brazil), contacto (Portugal)
• Russian: конта́кт
• Spanish: contacto

• French: contact
• German: Kontakt, Verbindung
• Italian: contatto
• Portuguese: contato (Brazil), contacto (Portugal)
• Russian: конта́кт

• French: lentille
• German: Kontaktlinse
• Portuguese: lente de contato (Brazil), lente de contacto (Portugal)
• Russian: конта́ктная ли́нза

• French: contact
• Portuguese: contato (Brazil)
• Russian: конта́кт

• French: contact, connaissance
• Italian: contatto
• Portuguese: contato (Brazil), contacto (Portugal)
• Russian: конта́кт

contact (contacts, present participle contacting; simple past and past participle contacted)

1. (transitive, occasionally, proscribed) To touch; to come into physical contact with.

   The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.

2. (transitive, occasionally, proscribed) To establish communication with (something or someone).

   I am trying to contact my sister.

• French: toucher
• German: berühren
• Portuguese: tocar, tanger

• French: contacter
• German: kontaktieren
• Italian: contattare
• Portuguese: contactar (Portugal), contatar (Brazil)
• Russian: контакти́ровать
• Spanish: contactar, entrar en contacto con