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Tact vs Craft - What's the difference?

tact | craft |

As a noun tact

is the sense of touch; feeling.

As a verb tact

is (psychology) to use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).

As a proper noun craft is

.

tact

Noun

(en noun)
  • The sense of touch; feeling.
  • *
  • Did you suppose that I could not make myself sensible to tact as well as sight?
  • * J. Le Conte
  • Now, sight is a very refined tact .
  • (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.
  • *
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • (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
  • Skinner (1957) saw such tacts as responses that are reinforced socially.

    Derived terms

    * tactful * tactless

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (psychology) To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).
  • craft

    English

    Noun

  • (lb) Strength; power; might.
  • (lb) Ability]]; dexterity; skill, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in [[manage, managing affairs; adroitness; practical cunning.
  • *(Ben Jonson) (1572-1637)
  • *:A poem is the work of the poet; poesy is his skill or craft of making.
  • *(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)
  • *:Since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, / Has the craft of the smith been held in repute.
  • (lb) Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception.
  • *(Thomas Hobbes) (1588-1679)
  • *:You have that crooked wisdom which is called craft .
  • *(Bible), (w) xiv.1:
  • *:The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft , and put him to death.
  • (lb) A device; a means; an art; art in general.
  • The skilled practice of a practical occupation.
  • The members of a trade collectively; guild.
  • :
  • Implements used in catching fish, such as net, line, or hook. Modern use primarily in whaling, as in harpoons, hand-lances, etc.
  • * “An Act for encouraging and regulating Fi?heries”, in Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, in America , T. Green (1784), [http://books.google.com/books?id=ywc4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA79&dq=craft p.79]:
  • *:And whereas the continual Interruption of the Cour?e and Pa??age of the Fi?h up the Rivers, by the daily drawing of Seins and other Fi?h-Craft , tends to prevent their Increa?e,
  • *1869 April 27, C. M. Scammon, Edward D. Cope (editor), “On the Cetaceans of the Western Coast of North America”, in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia , Volume 21, [http://books.google.com/books?id=9IEOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA46&dq=craft p.46]:
  • :The whaling craft consists of harpoons, lances, lines, and sealskin buoys, all of their own workmanship.
  • * (Charles Boardman Hawes), “A Boy Who Went Whaling”, in The Highest Hit: and Other Selections by Newbery Authors ,[http://books.google.com/books?id=xZC5QKSqW8UC ] Gareth Stevens Publishing (2001), ISBN 9780836828566, p.47:
  • *:From the mate’s boat they removed, at his direction, all whaling gear and craft except the oars and a single lance.
  • *1950 , in Discovery Reports , Volume 26,[http://books.google.com/books?id=GFgqAAAAMAAJ ] Cambridge University Press, p.318:
  • *:Temple, a negro of New Bedford, who made ‘whalecraft’, that is, was a blacksmith engaged in working from iron the special utensils or ‘craft ’ of the whaling trade.
  • *1991 , Joan Druett, Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820–1920 , University Press of New England (2001), ISBN 978-1-58465-159-8, [http://books.google.com/books?id=lwfRQFIeBYMC&pg=PA55&dq=craft p.55]:
  • *:The men raced about decks collecting the whaling craft and gear and putting them into the boats, while all the time the lookouts hollered from above.
  • (lb) Boats, especially of smaller size than ships. Historically primarily applied to vessels engaged in loading or unloading of other vessels, as lighters, hoys, and barges.
  • #(lb) A woman.
  • #*
  • #*:“A tight little craft ,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action.
  • Those vessels attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, and gun-boats, generally commanded by lieutenants.
  • A vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space.
  • A particular kind of skilled work.
  • :
  • Usage notes

    The unchanged plural is used if the word means vehicle(s) . Otherwise the regular plural is used.

    Derived terms

    * aircraft * craft beer, craft brewery * Cardcraft * gentle craft * gypsycraft * hovercraft * roadcraft * spacecraft * spellcraft * spycraft * statecraft * warcraft * watercraft * witchcraft

    Synonyms

    * (skill at work) craftsmanship, workmanship * (nautical sense) * (vehicle) * (kind of skilled work) trade * (shrewdness) craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make by hand and with much skill.
  • To construct, develop something (like a skilled craftsman): "state crafting", "crafting global policing".
  • References

    * Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1.[http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001] English invariant nouns