SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
tactful
adjective
Showing consideration and good judgment when addressing a sensitive situation.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Considerate in sensitive matters
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topTactful communication avoids needless offense while addressing the issue. Courteous describes politeness, and judicious describes good judgment more broadly.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See tactful in use
Her tactful question gave the speaker a chance to correct the error without embarrassment.
When Jules joined the student animation studio, an amiable classmate invited him to share a worktable and asked about his interests. The classmate was also attentive, noticing that Jules could not see the demonstration from his chair. Her tactful request to shift the screen solved the problem without making him feel singled out.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license