Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

intact

UK/ɪnˈtækt/US/ɪnˈtækt/
adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,237 of 15,258neutral

Intact means whole and undamaged, with nothing broken off. The seal was intact, remains intact, survived intact.

It describes something that has been through danger and come out whole — which is why it is used after storms, accidents and reorganisations. It works for abstractions too: her reputation is intact, the agreement remains intact. It is not usually used before a noun: you say the box was intact rather than an intact box, though the second is not wrong. Note that there is no verb and no adverb — nothing is done intactly.

Definitions of intact

  1. 1adjectiveintactWhole and undamaged.C1

    “The seal was intact and the contents were ruined anyway.”

    synonyms: undamaged, unbroken, whole

intact is a state of wholeness.

Where it comes from

Latin intactus is in-, not, plus tactus, touched — from tangere, to touch, the same verb behind contact, tangible and integrity. Something intact has not been touched, which is the strongest form of undamaged there is.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *teh₂g-

  2. Latin

    intactus

  3. Middle French

    intact

  4. English, today

    intact

From Middle French intact, from Latin intactus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

intact in the wild

  • When used to perform an abortion, an intact D&E can occur after feticide or on a live fetus.

    Intact dilation and extraction

  • In the United States, where federal law describes an intact D&E on a live fetus as a partial-birth abortion, the procedure is uncommon.

    Intact dilation and extraction

  • Cows (intact females) or bulls (intact males) may also be used in some areas.

    Ox

  • There is a tank which belongs to the temple; it helps to keep the ground water level intact.

    Kosapet

  • Stability is normally broken into two distinct types: intact and damaged.

    Stability conditions

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.