Definitions For Phatic

Adjective

(linguistics) Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship, e.g., polite mood, rather than meaning; for example, "How are you?" is often not a literal question but is said only as a greeting. (Similarly, a response such as "Fine" is often not an accurate answer, but merely an acknowledgement of the greeting.)

Translations

Dutch: fatisch Finnish: faattinen French: phatique, m, f Indonesian: fatis Portuguese: fático Spanish: fático Swedish: fatisk

See also

emphatic platitude

Etymology

From (Ancient Greek)  φατός, , spoken, from φημί, , I say

Anagrams

-pathic, haptic, pathic