Did you know?
Haptic felt its way into English in the 19th century as a back-formation of haptics, a noun which was borrowed from the New Latin hapticē (meaning "science of touch," and derived ultimately from the Greek haptesthai, meaning "to touch") in the 1700s. Haptic was originally a medical synonym for tactile. By the 20th century, it had developed a psychological sense, describing individuals whose perception supposedly depended primarily on touch rather than sight. Although almost no one today divides humans into haptic and visual personalities, English retains the broadened psychological sense of haptic as well as the older "tactile" sense.
Examples of haptic in a Sentence
Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 6 Jan. 2025
Stop-motion animation is a labor-intensive process made with three-dimensional objects, which can give the results a powerfully haptic quality.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2025
The most sophisticated models in the range include LED lights and haptic feedback.
—David Phelan, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2024
Sony's gamepad is the result of years of iteration, featuring incredibly robust haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and an onboard touchpad and speaker.
—K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 2 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for haptic 
Dictionary Entries Near haptic
Cite this Entry
“Haptic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haptic. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share