eye contact

English

Noun

eye contact (uncountable)

1. The condition or action of looking at another human or animal in the eye.

   to make eye contact with someone

   If you make the animal angry, walk slowly backwards and avoid making eye contact.

   • 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1]:

     Even the blithely unselfconscious Homer is more than a little freaked out by West’s private reverie, and encourages his spawn to move slowly away without making eye contact with the crazy man.

Translations

action of looking at another human or animal in the eye

• Arabic: اِتِّصَالٌ بَصَرِيّ m (ittiṣālun baṣariyy)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 目光接觸／目光接触 (mùguāng jiēchù), 眼神接觸／眼神接触 (yǎnshén jiēchù), 眼神交流 (yǎnshén jiāoliú)

• Czech: oční kontakt m
• Danish: øjenkontakt c
• Dutch: oogcontact (nl)
• Finnish: katsekontakti (fi)
• French: contact visuel (fr) m
• German: Blickkontakt (de) m, Augenkontakt (de) m
• Hebrew: קשר עין m (késher áyin)
• Italian: contatto visivo m
• Japanese: アイコンタクト (ja) (ai kontakuto)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: øyekontakt m

  Nynorsk: augekontakt m, augnekontakt m

• Polish: kontakt wzrokowy m
• Portuguese: contato visual (pt) m
• Russian: зри́тельный конта́кт m (zrítelʹnyj kontákt)
• Spanish: contacto visual m
• Swedish: ögonkontakt (sv) c
• Vietnamese: giao tiếp bằng mắt

Further reading

• “eye contact”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “eye contact”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.