contactless

adjective

con·​tact·​less ˈkän-ˌtakt-ləs 

: not involving contact: such as

a

: not requiring touching or interaction between people

contactless meal delivery

… many retailers and restaurants have rolled out home delivery along with contactless options, leaving food orders and grocery deliveries on door steps.

—Dawson White

b

: relating to or being a technological system (as for making payments) where information is transmitted over short distances (as by near field communication) without physical contact

… hold your phone in front of the contactless payment scanner to authorize the purchase.

—Robert Patrick

Contactless payment cards are not in wide circulation. Instead, consumers are increasingly making electronic payments with their cellular phones …

—Chad Bray and Reuben Kyama

Examples of contactless in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The open-loop system has since expanded to London’s Tube, train and ferry systems, with more than half of riders now using contactless payments. —Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025

This shift away from traditional paper checks has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed consumers towards contactless and digital payment options. —Bill Hardekopf, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025

Pick-up: Renters meet the car owner to pick up the vehicle or arrange for contactless check-in. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 3 Jan. 2025

There's longer software support and NFC for contactless payments, but those perks may not be worth the sluggish performance. —Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 28 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for contactless

• abs
• acquiesce
• ancestress
• authoress
• coalesce
• decompress
• dispossess
• faithfulness
• letterpress
• mayoress
• murderess
• nonetheless