How to Use tactful in a Sentence

tactful

adjective

• It was tactful of her not to criticize me in front of my boss.
• He gave a tactful critique of her story.
• And tactful honesty about the source is the best route.
  — Annie Midori Atherton, The Atlantic, 20 Dec. 2022
• Thus the it’s-not-you-it’s-me approach, which is tactful, if worn.
  — Miss Manners | Judith Martin, Anchorage Daily News, 18 July 2023
• Or is there a tactful way to find out if my wife is invited?
  — Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 27 July 2019
• Instead of cash, a gift card is a more tactful way to give a monetary gift.
  — Maggie Maloney, Town & Country, 16 Oct. 2019
• Fauci has had to correct some of Trump's false statements but tries to do so in a tactful way.
  — Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 13 Apr. 2020
• Is there a tactful way to ask the groom's parents to split the bill for the reception dinner at this year's smaller do?
  — The Washington Post, 31 July 2020
• Or is there a tactful way to make my differing opinion about these drugs known?
  — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 28 June 2023
• This is your chance to help show them the future in a tactful, truthful way and support their efforts in finding a better fit down the road.
  — Julie Holunga, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2021
• Glenn, a former astronaut and the first American to orbit the Earth, was not as tactful.
  — azcentral, 2 Apr. 2018
• But even the usually tactful Pagano had a hard time stomaching the Dallas game.
  — Michael Marot, The Seattle Times, 24 Aug. 2017
• The HAPIfork does what your tactful friends won’t, imparting its lessons subtly.
  — Justin Peters, Slate Magazine, 24 Oct. 2017
• So try to think of a tactful and affectionate way of asking them about repayment.
  — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2023
• As always, please be tactful when zapping back to plant investment ideas.
  — Jason Karaian, Quartz, 24 Dec. 2019
• So someday, perhaps, your mirror will tell you everything your friends are too tactful to say.
  — Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2015
• Or did even the gamely indulgent Russian, though too tactful to say so, balk at the image’s molten energy?
  — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022
• Sometimes, something comes up that requires that tactful balance of asking and telling.
  — Roxane Gay, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2022
• But for anyone who still did not hear about it, Miss Manners finds your wording extremely tactful.
  — Judith Martin, Washington Post, 4 Sep. 2020
• Certainly, there are more tactful ways to excite a moribund fan base than to sideswipe the previous regime.
  — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 12 Feb. 2020
• Compare that to the stance of French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed in less-than-tactful language last week to make the life of the unvaccinated a living hell.
  — Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2022
• The picture that emerged was one in which Biden’s people would be more tactful than their predecessors, but the endgame would remain mostly unchanged.
  — Robert Goulder, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2021
• On the other hand, research by my colleague Michael Schwaebe and me shows that tactful approaches to expressing our views can work wonders.
  — Time, 22 Nov. 2022
• Many women calculate in this competitive way; most are too tactful to say so.
  — Allison Pearson, New York Times, 29 May 2018
• For their Dallas stop, a fundraising luncheon was scheduled at the Trade Mart, which acted as a tactful strategy to regain support.
  — Alyssa Fernandez, Dallas News, 11 June 2020
• Oettinger was tactful while shorthanded, stopping all nine Avalanche shots.
  — Dallas News, 15 Feb. 2022
• All four artists exemplify the tactful bravado that makes Black women so very necessary to both genres.
  — Essence, 8 July 2022
• Image Many women calculate in this competitive way; most are too tactful to say so.
  — Allison Pearson, New York Times, 29 May 2018
• Yet one benefit that a contribution on this scale buys its donors is silence, or perhaps tactful blindness.
  — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2019
• By contrast, others deride the trend as unprofessional and say there are more tactful ways for unhappy workers to leave their jobs or celebrate making a change.
  — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2023

Last Updated: 29 Sep 2024