FreeScrabbleDictionary

phatic

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
14
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈfætɪk/

Definition of phatic

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent.
    “You needn't be angry about the insincerity of shopkeepers' how-are-you greetings. Well-adjusted people understand that the question is phatic in the context and that that's usually no problem.”
    “Some dialects of a language may use a certain term or phrase in a phatic way, even if other dialects don't.”
    “Generally speaking, statements in WE are expected to be of a tautologous nature, thus fulfilling the essential phatic nature of speech.”
    “Dispensing with phatic chitchat, he began straightaway to tell the story of his “people.””
See all 2 definitions

adj

  1. Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent.
    “You needn't be angry about the insincerity of shopkeepers' how-are-you greetings. Well-adjusted people understand that the question is phatic in the context and that that's usually no problem.”
    “Some dialects of a language may use a certain term or phrase in a phatic way, even if other dialects don't.”
    “Generally speaking, statements in WE are expected to be of a tautologous nature, thus fulfilling the essential phatic nature of speech.”
    “Dispensing with phatic chitchat, he began straightaway to tell the story of his “people.””

noun

  1. A phatic utterance.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φατός (phatós, “spoken”) - from φημί (phēmí, “I say”) - + -ic. Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.

Anagrams of phatic

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play haptic 13 points

Words you can make from phatic

55 playable · top: HAPTIC (13 pts)

Best play haptic 13 points

5-letter words

4 words

4-letter words

16 words

3-letter words

24 words

2-letter words

10 words

Find your best play with phatic

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes phatic, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.

Find more plays Browse word lists