Tangible: physical or clearly identifiable
Tangible means able to be touched, or clear and definite enough to recognize. It comes from Latin tangere, meaning to touch. A working sample is a tangible result of a design project because people can handle and examine something that previously existed only as a proposal.
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Something you can point to
Tangible is an adjective with a literal and an extended use. A tangible object has a physical presence. A tangible result is concrete or clearly identifiable, even when it is not itself an object.
The word comes through Latin tangibilis, from tangere, meaning to touch.
A model bridge made from card is tangible in the physical sense. A shorter queue after an extra counter opens can be described as a tangible improvement because the change is observable.
- Tangible objects can be physically handled.
- Tangible benefits can be identified in practical terms.
Avoid using the word as a substitute for valuable. An idea may be valuable before it produces anything tangible. When describing a tangible improvement, specify what changed, such as the waiting time or the number of completed orders.