1. Make physical contact with, come in contact with
   "Touch the stone for good luck"; "She never touched her husband"
    
2. Be in direct physical contact with; make contact
   "The two buildings touch"; "Their hands touched";
   - adjoin, meet, contact
    
3. Affect emotionally
   "I was touched by your kind letter of sympathy";
   - stir
    
4. Be relevant to
   "His speech touched on several important issues";
   - refer, pertain, relate, concern, bear on, touch on, have to do with
    
5. Deal with; usually used with a form of negation
   "I wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole"; "The local Mafia won't touch gambling"
    
6. To extend as far as
   "The chair must not touch the wall";
   - reach, extend to
    
7. Be equal to in quality or ability
   "Your performance doesn't even touch that of your colleagues";
   - equal, rival, match
    
8. Tamper with
   "Don't touch my CDs!";
   - disturb
    
9. Make a more or less disguised reference to
   "The speech touched on sensitive political issues";
   - allude, advert [rare]
    
10. Comprehend
    "He could not touch the meaning of the poem"
     
11. Consume
    "She didn't touch her food all night";
    - partake
     
12. Colour lightly
    "her greying hair was touched blond";
    - tint, tinct [archaic], tinge

1. The event of something coming in contact with the body
   "the cooling touch of the night air"; "he longed for the touch of her hand";
   - touching
    
2. The faculty by which external objects or forces are perceived through contact with the body (especially the hands)
   "only sight and touch enable us to locate objects in the space around us";
   - sense of touch, skin senses, touch modality, cutaneous senses
    
3. The sensation produced by pressure receptors in the skin
   "she likes the touch of silk on her skin"; "The soft touch sensation of silk against her skin was luxurious";
   - touch sensation, tactual sensation, tactile sensation, feeling
    
4. The act of putting two things together with no space between them
   "at his touch the room filled with lights";
   - touching
    
5. A suggestion of some quality
   "there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone";
   - trace, ghost
    
6. A distinguishing style
   "this room needs a woman's touch";
   - signature
    
7. Deftness in handling matters
   "he has a master's touch"
    
8. A communicative interaction
   "he got in touch with his colleagues";
   - contact
    
9. A slight but appreciable amount
   "this dish could use a touch of garlic";
   - hint, tinge, mite, pinch, jot, speck, soupçon, smack
    
10. A slight attack of illness
    "he has a touch of rheumatism";
    - spot [informal]
     
11. The act of soliciting money (as a gift or loan)
    "he watched the beggar trying to make a touch"
     
12. The feel of mechanical action
    "this piano has a wonderful touch"

Derived forms: touching, touches, touched

See also: heat, touch down

Type of: act, adeptness, adroitness, affect, alter, attack, be, care, change, color [US], color in [US], colorise [Brit], colorize [US], colour [Brit, Cdn], colour in [Brit, Cdn], colourise [Brit], colourize [Brit, Cdn], communicating, communication, compete, consume, contact, contend, deal, deed, deftness, exteroception, facility, fashion, feel, handle, have, hint, human action, human activity, impinging, impress, ingest, manage, manner, mode, modify, move, perception, proffer, proposition, quickness, small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity, solicitation, somatosense, strike, striking, style, suggest, suggestion, tactile property, take, take in, understand, vie, way

Part of: somaesthesia [Brit, Cdn], somaesthesis [Cdn], somataesthesis, somatesthesia, somatic sense, somatic sensory system, somatosensory system, somesthesia [N. Amer], somesthesis [N. Amer]

Encyclopedia: Touch, Peel and Stand