tactful
TAKT-fuladjMeaning careful to say things without hurting anyone’s feelings
Memory hook TACT = TOUCH: a light touch. Tact comes from the Latin for touch. Aunt Greta asks if Felix likes her bright orange sweater, and he answers with a light touch: “It’s so cheerful!” He is tactful.
Felix gave a tactful answer when his aunt asked whether he liked her very orange sweater.
In context Rather than calling the essay boring, the teacher was tactful: she praised its strong opening and suggested ways to make the middle livelier.
Similar diplomatic, sensitive, thoughtful, considerate
Opposite tactless, blunt, insensitive
From tact, which comes from Latin tactus, “touch.”