touchverb
uk/tʌtʃ/us/tʌtʃ/touch verb (PUT HAND ON)
B1 [ I or T ] to put your hand or another part of your body lightly onto and off something or someone:
More examples
- Don't touch the machine when it's in use.
- The water's not deep here - look, I can touch the bottom.
- I could feel myself tense up as he touched my neck.
- A new baby will automatically curl its fingers round any object it touches.
- "You're burning up!" she said, touching his forehead.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Touching & feeling
- brush
- feel
- feel your way idiom
- fiddle
- fiddle (around) with sth
- finger
- hand
- hand to hand idiom
- haptic
- kinaesthesia
- lick
- nudge
- pat
- paw
- play
- play with sth
- tactile
- tap
- toy
- toy with sth
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touch verb (BE CLOSE TOGETHER)
B2 [ I or T ] (of two or more things) to be so close together that there is no space between; to be in contact:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Connecting and combining
- abut
- adjoin
- aggregate
- allied
- amalgamate
- assemblage
- bind
- desegregate
- dovetail
- eclectic
- entwine
- fuse
- fusion
- hitch
- linkage
- lump sb/sth together
- marriage
- marry
- meld
- merge
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touch verb (HARM/DAMAGE)
C2 to harm someone, or use or damage something:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Damaging and spoiling
- adulterate
- alloy
- at the expense of sb idiom
- at-risk
- bandh
- bang up sb/sth
- foul
- gild the lily idiom
- gloss
- gnaw
- gnaw away at sth
- go west idiom
- goonda
- ravages
- ruin
- scourge
- shatter
- shoot sth up
- sour
- tell on sb
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touch verb (EAT/DRINK)
[ T ] informal (usually used in negative sentences) to eat or drink something:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Abstaining and refraining
- abstain
- abstemious
- abstention
- abstinence
- back off
- cut
- fast
- forborne
- give
- give (sth) up
- give up sth
- hors de combat
- keep
- keep (sb/sth) out of sth
- step
- step back
- stop
- stop short of sth idiom
- swear off sth
- wouldn't touch sth with a barge pole idiom
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touch verb (INFLUENCE)
[ T ] to influence someone or something emotionally, or cause feelings of sympathy in someone:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Making people sad, shocked and upset
- aback
- amiss
- appal
- be laughing on the other side of your face idiom
- bite
- haunt
- hit/touch a (raw) nerve idiom
- horrify
- hurt sb's feelings idiom
- hurtful
- laugh
- mess
- nose
- shake
- take sb aback
- tear 1
- tear sb apart
- tear sb's heart out idiom
- torture
- traumatize
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touch verb (BE AS GOOD)
[ T ] (usually used in negative sentences) to have or reach the same standard (= level of quality) as someone or something:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Worse and worst
- aggravating
- aggravation
- at worst idiom
- be in a different league idiom
- can't hold a candle to idiom
- dark
- half
- hold
- league
- match
- not in the same league idiom
- not the same idiom
- pale imitation
- pale in comparison idiom
- rub
- villain
- worse
- worse off
- worst
- worst-case
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Idiom(s)
Phrasal verb(s)
touchnoun
uk/tʌtʃ/us/tʌtʃ/touch noun (SMALL AMOUNT)
C2 [ S ] a small amount:
[ S ] informal To show that an illness is not too serious, you can say you have had a touch of it:
C2 [ C ] a small addition or detail that makes something better:
slightly:
More examples
- There was so much publicity and hype beforehand, that the performance itself was a touch anticlimactic.
- There was a touch of frost on the hills.
- Add just a touch of cream to the mixture.
- His work has a touch of pathos.
- The gold decoration will add a touch of class.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Words meaning small pieces and amounts
- by a nose idiom
- chip
- clipping
- crumb
- dollop
- droplet
- flake
- germ
- jot
- nose
- pat
- patch
- pennyworth
- pinprick
- ray
- scattering
- scintilla
- shard
- shred
- trace
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
touch noun (FEELING)
B2 [ U ] the ability to know what something is like by feeling it with the fingers:
used after an adjective to express how something feels when you put your hand on it:
More examples
- Although snakes look slimy their skin is actually dry to the touch.
- I felt a gentle touch on my arm.
- I can control the doors at the touch of a switch.
- Her skin was icy to the touch.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
The senses in general
- eyesight
- feeling
- hearing
- night vision
- night vision
- sensation
- sense
- sensory
- sight
- smell
- synaesthesia
- taste
- vision
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touch noun (MOVEMENT ONTO/OFF)
B2 [ C usually singular ] a quick, light movement of one thing, especially a hand, onto and off another thing:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Touching & feeling
- brush
- feel
- feel your way idiom
- fiddle
- fiddle (around) with sth
- finger
- hand
- hand to hand idiom
- haptic
- kinaesthesia
- lick
- nudge
- pat
- paw
- play
- play with sth
- tactile
- tap
- toy
- toy with sth
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touch noun (COMMUNICATION)
More examples
- Is she still in touch with her ex?
- Many therapists think it's important for adults to get in touch with their inner child.
- The police put me in touch with Victim Support.
- The president responded angrily to the charge that she had lost touch with her country's people.
B1 to communicate or continue to communicate with someone by using a phone or writing to them:
B2 to stop communicating with someone, usually because they do not live near you now:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Communicating & keeping in touch
- ahold
- bell
- catch up
- communicate
- communication
- communicative
- drop
- give sb a bell idiom
- hear
- interact
- interaction
- pick
- pick up the phone idiom
- radio silence
- raise
- rapporteur
- reach out to sb
- ring (sb) back
- send
- send word idiom
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touch noun (ABILITY)
[ S or U ] an ability to do things in the stated, especially positive, way:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Skill, talent and ability
- a magic touch idiom
- ability
- accomplishment
- accuracy
- acumen
- bandwidth
- capability
- dash
- ear
- effortless
- expertise
- facility
- faculty
- finesse
- métier
- nose
- polish
- proficient
- prowess
- pyrotechnics
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touch noun (BALL CONTROL)
[ C or U ] in sports such as football, a player's ability to control the ball and make it do what they want, or an occasion when a player controls the ball with their foot:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Football/soccer
- 18-yard box
- 2 3 5
- 4 3 2 1
- 4 4 2
- 4 5 1
- crossbar
- feint
- footballing
- futsal
- game 39
- game ball
- ghost goal
- give-and-go
- relegation
- Roy of the Rovers stuff
- scissor kick
- seal dribble
- shin guard
- shin pad
- stoppage
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touch noun (SPORT)
[ U ] the area outside either of the long edges of the space on which football and rugby are played:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Surfaces on which sports take place
- 18-yard box
- AstroTurf
- bench
- course
- D, d
- dry slope
- far post
- field
- goalmouth
- goalpost
- golf course
- groundsman
- penalty area
- penalty spot
- pitch
- recreation center
- stretch
- touchline
- track
- unplayable
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touch noun (KNOWLEDGE)
C2 If you are in touch/out of touch with a subject, activity, or situation, your knowledge about it is recent/not recent:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Aware
- abreast
- acquainted
- alive
- alive to sth idiom
- awake
- awakening
- be no stranger to sth idiom
- conscious
- familiar
- genned up
- have/keep your finger on the pulse idiom
- informed
- insider
- ivory tower
- onto
- preliterate
- privy
- put sb in the picture idiom
- repository
- sad
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