Insult vs Tact - What's the difference?
insult | tact |
(obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against).
*, II.3.3:
To offend (someone) by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront (someone).
(obsolete) To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon.
An action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude.
* Savage
* 1987 , Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda :
Anything that causes offence/offense, e.g. by being of an unacceptable quality.
(medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes.
* 2006 , Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J. Eggermont, Reprogramming the Cerebral Cortex (page 415)
* 2011 , Terence Allen and Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford 2011, p. 96:
(obsolete) The act of leaping on; onset; attack.
The sense of touch; feeling.
*
* J. Le Conte
(music) The stroke in beating time.
Sensitive mental touch; peculiar skill or faculty; nice perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances.
*
*
The ability to deal with embarrassing situations carefully and without doing or saying anything that will annoy or upset other people; careful consideration in dealing with others to avoid giving offense; the ability to say the right thing.
(psychology) A verbal operant which is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise).
* 2013 , Jacob L. Gewirtz, William M. Kurtines, Jacob L. Lamb, Intersections With Attachment
As verbs the difference between insult and tact
is that insult is (obsolete|intransitive) to behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against) while tact is (psychology) to use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).As nouns the difference between insult and tact
is that insult is an action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude while tact is the sense of touch; feeling.insult
English
Verb
(en verb)- thou hast lost all, poor thou art, dejected, in pain of body, grief of mind, thine enemies insult over thee, thou art as bad as Job […].
- (Shakespeare)
Synonyms
* (to offend) abuse, affront, offend, slight * See alsoAntonyms
*complimentNoun
(en noun)- the ruthless sneer that insult adds to grief
- To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!
- The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
- Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults , for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.
- (Dryden)
Synonyms
* (deliberatedly intended to be rude) abuse (uncountable), affront, offence (UK)/offense (US), pejorative, slam, slight, slur * (thing causing offence by being of unacceptable quality) disgrace, outrage * See alsoAntonyms
*complimentAnagrams
* * English heteronymstact
Noun
(en noun)- Did you suppose that I could not make myself sensible to tact as well as sight?
- Now, sight is a very refined tact .
- He had formed plans not inferior in grandeur and boldness to those of Richelieu, and had carried them into effect with a tact and wariness worthy of Mazarin.
- A tact' which surpassed the '''tact''' of her sex as much as the '''tact''' of her sex surpassed the ' tact of ours.
- By the use of tact , she was able to calm her jealous husband.
- I used tact when I told my fat uncle that his extra weight made him look better.
- Skinner (1957) saw such tacts as responses that are reinforced socially.