Contact Us

contact—noun

1. the act or state of touching; a touching or meeting, as of two things or people.
2. immediate proximity or association.
3. an acquaintance, colleague, or relative through whom a person can gain access to information, favors, influential people, and the like.
4. Electricity.a junction of electric conductors, usually metal, that controls current flow, often completing or interrupting a circuit.
5. Geology.the interface, generally a planar surface, between strata that differ in lithology or age.
6. Medicine/Medical.a person who has lately been exposed to an infected person.
7. Sociology.a condition in which two or more individuals or groups are placed in communication with each other.
8. contact lens.

—verb (used with object)

9. to put or bring into contact.
10. to communicate with: We’ll contact you by mail or telephone.

—verb (used without object)

11. to enter into or be in contact.

—adjective

12. involving or produced by touching or proximity: contact allergy.

Origin: 1620–30; < Latin contāctus a touching, equivalent to contāc- < *contag-, variant stem of contingere to touch (con- con- + -tingere, combining form of tangere to touch) + -tus suffix of v. action; cf. tango, attain

—Related forms
con·tac·tu·al [kon-tak-choo-uh l] /kɒnˈtæk tʃu əl/, adjective
con·tac·tu·al·ly, adverb
non·con·tact, noun, adjective
re·con·tact, noun, verb
un·con·tact·ed, adjective

—Usage_note
Many verbs in English have derived from nouns. One can head an organization or toe the mark; butter the bread or bread the cutlet. Hence, grammatically at least, there is no historical justification for the once frequently heard criticism of contact used as a verb meaning “to communicate with”: The managing editor contacted each reporter personally. Despite the earlier objections to it and probably largely because there is no other one-word verb in the language to express the same idea, this use of contact has become standard in all types of speech and writing. Contact as a noun meaning “a person through whom one can gain access to information and the like” is also standard: My contact at the embassy says that the coup has been successful.