touching

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʌt͡ʃɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌtʃɪŋ
• Hyphenation: touch‧ing

Etymology 1

From Middle English touchynge, equivalent to touch +‎ -ing.

Verb

touching

1. present participle of touch

Adjective

touching (comparative more touching, superlative most touching)

1. Provoking sadness and pity; that can cause sadness or heartbreak among witnesses to a sad event or situation.

   a touching story

Synonyms

• emotional, moving, sad

Translations

provoking sadness and pity

• Arabic: مُؤَثِّر‎ (muʔaṯṯir)
• Armenian: հուզիչ (hy) (huzičʿ)
• Belarusian: жа́ласлівы (žálaslivy), крана́льны (kranálʹny), замілава́льны (zamilaválʹny)
• Bulgarian: трога́телен (bg) (trogátelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感人 (zh) (gǎnrén), 使……感動／使……感动 (zh) (shǐ ... gǎndòng)

• Czech: dojemný (cs)
• Danish: rørende
• Dutch: roerend (nl)
• Finnish: liikuttava (fi), koskettava (fi)
• French: touchant (fr)
• German: rührend (de), anrührend (de), ergreifend (de)
• Greek: συγκινητικός (el) (sygkinitikós)
• Hungarian: megható (hu), megindító (hu)
• Italian: commovente (it), toccante (it)
• Japanese: 感動的な (ja) (かんどうてきな, kandōteki na)
• Korean: 감동적(感動的) (ko) (gamdongjeok)
• Latin: flexanimus
• Macedonian: трогателен (trogatelen)
• Maori: whakaaroharoha, whakaaroha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rørende

• Polish: wzruszający (pl)
• Portuguese: tocante (pt)
• Russian: тро́гательный (ru) (trógatelʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѝрљив

  Roman: dìrljiv (sh)

• Slovak: dojímavý, dojemný
• Slovene: ganljiv (sl)
• Spanish: enternecedor (es), conmovedor (es)
• Swedish: rörande (sv), känslosam (sv)
• Turkish: hüzünlü (tr), hazin (tr), dokunaklı (tr) (figurative)
• Ukrainian: звору́шливий (zvorúšlyvyj)
• Vietnamese: cảm động (vi)

Preposition

touching

1. Regarding; concerning.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 8:1:

     Now as touching things offered vnto idoles, wee know that wee all haue knowledge.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 28, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 134:

     Every time I ascended to the deck from my watches below, I instantly gazed aft to mark if any strange face were visible ; for my first vague disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, became almost a perturbation.

Synonyms

• about, apropos, as for; See also Thesaurus:about

Etymology 2

From Middle English touching, touchinge, touchynge, equivalent to touch +‎ -ing.

Noun

touching (plural touchings)

1. The act by which something is touched.
   • 2011, Lance J. Rips, Lines of Thought: Central Concepts in Cognitive Psychology, page 168:

     But we can also take a more analytical attitude to these displays, interpreting the movements as no more than approachings, touchings, and departings with no implication that one shape caused the other to move.

2. (India, in the plural) A snack served with alcoholic drinks in an informal environment.

Translations

The act by which something is touched

• Arabic: لَمْس‎ m (lams)
• Bulgarian: докосване (bg) n (dokosvane)
• Turkish: dokunuş (tr)

Anagrams

• ungothic