touching

/'tʌtʃiɳ/

Thân thiện

The child's story about helping the lost puppy was very touching.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Eliciting emotion, especially sympathy or tenderness; moving: "touching" describes something that stirs feelings of compassion, sadness, or affection in a poignant way.
2. Noun:
   • The act of making physical contact: "touching" refers to the event or action of one thing coming into contact with another.
   • A light or gentle contact: It can specifically denote a gentle or brief physical contact.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The film's final scene was deeply touching. (The film's final scene deeply stirred emotions.)
  • She told a touching story about her childhood. (She told an emotionally moving story about her childhood.)
• Noun:
  • The touching of the wires caused a short circuit. (The act of the wires making contact caused a short circuit.)
  • I felt a light touching on my shoulder. (I felt a gentle contact on my shoulder.)

Advanced Usage

• "a touching moment": a specific instance that evokes tender feelings.
  • Their reunion was a truly touching moment.
• Used in formal or literary contexts to mean "concerning" or "regarding" (now archaic).
  • He had nothing to say touching that matter. (He had nothing to say concerning that matter.)

Variants and Related Words

• Touch (verb/noun): The base form, meaning to make physical contact or to affect emotionally.
• Touchingly (adverb): In a manner that evokes emotion.
  • She spoke touchingly about her mentor.
• Untouched (adjective): Not affected or not contacted physically.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Moving, poignant, affecting, heartwarming, sentimental.
• Noun: Contact, tap, brush, graze.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs/Constructions)

• Touch on/upon (phrasal verb): To mention or deal with a subject briefly.
  • The speaker touched on several key issues.
• Touch off (phrasal verb): To cause something to start, especially suddenly.
  • The remark touched off a heated debate.

Related Idioms

• A touching distance: Very close, almost in contact.
  • The two cars were within touching distance.
• Touch a (raw) nerve: To upset someone by referring to a sensitive subject.
  • His comment about failure touched a nerve.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. arousing affect
   • the homecoming of the released hostages was an affecting scene
   • poignant grief cannot endure forever
   • his gratitude was simple and touching

Noun

1. the act of putting two things together with no space between them
   • at his touch the room filled with lights
2. the event of something coming in contact with the body
   • he longed for the touch of her hand
   • the cooling touch of the night air

Từ đồng nghĩa

• affecting
• poignant
• touch