contact



no plan survives contact with the enemy

Military plans always need to be changed once they are enacted in real-life military situations. The saying emphasizes the need for flexibility, as opposed to strict adherence to strategy. It is attributed to Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, a 19th-century Prussian field marshal. Men, be ready to make changes on the battlefield—we all know that no plan survives contact with the enemy.
See also: contact, enemy, plan, survive

bring someone or something into contact with someone or something

to cause things or people to touch or associate with one another. She hasn't been the same since I brought her into contact with the child who had chicken pox. Don't bring your hand in contact with the poison ivy. Don't bring him into contact with Fred.
See also: bring, contact

come in(to) contact

 (with someone or something)
1. Lit. to touch someone or something, probably unknowingly. How many people have come into contact with the sick man? He came in contact with almost no one.
2. Fig. to meet up with and learn about someone or something. Have you ever come into contact with trigonometry before? I have never come in contact with anything so difficult.
See also: come, contact

*contact with someone a link to someone

resulting in communication. (*Typically: be in ~; have ~; make~.) I have had no contact with Bill since he left town. Tom made contact with a known criminal last month.
See also: contact, link

in contact (with someone or something)

communicating with someone or a group; to share information with someone or a group. I have been in contact with our supplier, who will deliver the part next week. I am in contact with the Senate committee now.
See also: contact

lose contact with someone or something

 and lose touch with someone or something
[for communication with someone or a group] to fail or fade away; to let one's friendship or relationship with someone or a group lapse. I hope I don't lose contact with you. I don't want to lose touch with my old friends.
See also: contact, lose

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Astin['æstin]
Tacey-English (Archaic)
RuutROO:TFinnish
Hieronymos-Ancient Greek
HeinoHIE-no (German), HAY-no (Finnish)German, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Estonian
ClarkKLAHRKEnglish