Tactics

How to spell tactics

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tactics

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tactics mean?

1. nounThe specific methods or manoeuvres used to achieve a particular short-term goal, especially in conflict, competition, or negotiation.

Tactics in a sentence

• The sales team changed their tactics after the first quarter underperformed.

• Aggressive tactics in the courtroom rarely impress an experienced judge.

Where does tactics come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek taktikos, meaning 'fit for arranging or ordering', which itself grew from the verb tassein, 'to arrange or draw up in order'. In the ancient world the phrase taktike techne described the 'art of arrangement', specifically the skill of drawing up soldiers and ships into ordered formations for battle. English borrowed the term in the mid 1600s, at first strictly as a military word for the deployment of forces, and only later widened it to mean any clever method used to achieve a goal. The same Greek root for ordered arrangement also gives us 'syntax', the ordering of words in a sentence. The spelling keeps the hard Greek 'k' sound written as a 'c', and the doubled internal cluster 'ct' is the part writers must watch.

How the word is built

• tact- (from Greek taktos: arranged, ordered)
• -ic (relating to)
• -s (plural)