tactic

1 of 3

noun

tac·​tic ˈtak-tik 

1

: a device for accomplishing an end

2

: a method of employing forces in combat

tactic

2 of 3

adjective

: of or relating to arrangement or order

-tactic

3 of 3

adjective combining form

1

: of, relating to, or having (such) an arrangement or pattern

phonotactic

2

: showing orientation or movement directed by a (specified) force or agent

geotactic

Note: Adjectives formed with -tactic usually correspond to nouns ending in -taxis.

Examples of tactic in a Sentence

Noun

an effective tactic for solving crimes

We may need to change tactics.

a specialist in naval tactics

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The files of the General Security Service, though, mention tactics like censorship, intimidation and surveillance rather than physical violence. —Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 13 May 2024

By tapping into Google’s Gemini for the iPhone, Apple would be associating itself with these tactics. —Katie Paul, Fortune, 13 May 2024

And this is the tactic that's kind of worked before for him, right? —Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 13 May 2024

Trump's legal team reportedly plotting extended tactics to dismantle prosecution's wild card witness. —Fox News, 9 May 2024

Humans sometimes employ such tactics; the U.S. National Park Service recommends that people first try playing dead when they’re attacked by a brown bear. —Harri Weber, Popular Science, 8 May 2024

It’s barely been four months since Amazon placed ads in its Prime Video streaming service, but the retail giant is already introducing more annoying promotional tactics — such as displaying ads whenever someone hits the pause button. —Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 8 May 2024

All these tactics make sense, and California can have them all. —Thomas Elias, The Mercury News, 7 May 2024

Eva sometimes tells clients about the murky trade in which people claiming to have connections to unscrupulous Meta workers offer to restore accounts for a price of thousands of dollars—and the tactic appears to have paid off in the past. —Paresh Dave, WIRED, 19 Apr. 2024

Adjective

In addition, the AI noted that the language in the PDF tried to create a sense of urgency, a tactic scammers often use on potential victims. —Michael Kan, PCMAG, 6 May 2024

Cleveland hosted the 2016 RNC. Milwaukee, Cleveland use RNC to tell positive stories Cleveland used the RNC to tell positive stories about the city − a tactic Visit Milwaukee is embracing. —Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel, 29 Feb. 2024

The resilient tun state isn’t the only tactic water bears use to survive environmental stress, and the team plans to study these other strategies in close detail. —Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2024

Compressing file contents into archived zip files has long been a tactic threat actors use to conceal malware spreading through email or downloads. —Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 15 May 2023

This is a tactic vendors of all sizes can employ to make returns somewhat more predictable. —Heather Hoover-Salomon, Fortune, 17 Nov. 2023

Miguel, who was elected mayor in October 2021, said Thursday that music has been constantly playing at the bandshell for roughly the past six months to discourage crime — a tactic cities have used for more than a decade. —Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023

Fast-food companies quickly launched a campaign to qualify a referendum on the ballot to reverse the law, a tactic business interests have adopted to pause and halt progressive laws from taking effect in California. —Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023

One of the standard protocols is to have a second submersible on hand that can reach the first one if necessary, which is a tactic film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron used during his 33 dives to the Titanic. —Syris Valentine, Scientific American, 31 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from New Latin tactica "art of deploying troops in combat," borrowed from Greek taktikḗ (originally modifying téchnē "art, skill "), noun derivative from feminine of taktikós "of ordering or arranging, of ordering troops in combat"; in recent use also as back-formation from tactics — more at tactic entry 2

Adjective

borrowed from Greek taktikós "of ordering or arranging, of ordering troops in combat," from taktós "ordered, prescribed" (verbal adjective of tássein —Attic táttein— "to draw up in order [as troops, ships], post, station, place in order, prescribe, assess," of uncertain origin) + -ikos -ic entry 1

Note: The derivative noun tagḗ "line of battle" (and possibly Thessalian tāgós "commander") show that the base of the verb was tag-, which should have resulted in *tázein rather than tássein; the latter was presumably introduced from generalization of the voiceless consonant in the aorist and in derivatives such as taktós, táxis, etc. The base tag- has been compared with the Parthian title tgmdr (read as *taɣma-dára "order-giver"), Old Persian ham-ataxšata "they have put in order," Tocharian B tāś "commander," and (semantically much more distant) Lithuanian patogùs "convenient, comfortable," sutógti "to get married, ally oneself." R. Beekes proposes a verb *teh₂g-, invoking a law to delete the laryngeal in order to avoid positing a base with *a (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010).

Adjective combining form

borrowed from Greek -taktikos, after pairs such as prótaxis "placement in front, prefixing," protaktikós "used as a prefix" — more at tactic entry 2

First Known Use

Noun

1640, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1871, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing tactic

• delaying tactic
• delay tactic

Kids Definition

tactic

noun

tac·​tic

ˈtak-tik

1

: a method of arranging and moving forces in combat

2

: a planned action for a particular purpose

Medical Definition

tactic

adjective

tac·​tic ˈtak-tik 

1

: regular in structure of repeating units in a polymer

2

: of, relating to, or showing biological taxis