first contact
first contact noun: the first meeting between people of two previously unknown cultures.
Noun
first contact (usually uncountable, plural first contacts)
- The first meeting between people of two previously unknown cultures.
- The first meeting between humans and extraterrestrials.
- He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system. His lifework was done and he was wholly prepared to rest.1935 March, Murray Leinster, “Proxima Centauri”, in Astounding Stories, volume 15, number 1, New York: Street & Smith Publications, page 21
- Tam is a telepath of extraordinary talent, even for a Betazoid. He's a specialist in first contact with new life forms.1990 April 23, Dennis Putman Bailey, David Bischoff, “Tin Man”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 3, episode 20, spoken by Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
- The moment, during an eclipse or transit, when the apparent positions of the two bodies first touch.
Forms of first contact
| plural | first contacts |
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Questions about first contact
- What does first contact mean?
- First contact means the first meeting between people of two previously unknown cultures.
- What part of speech is first contact?
- First contact is a noun.
- What is the plural of first contact?
- The plural of first contact is first contacts.
Words near first contact in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: first contact (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “first contact.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/first_contact. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.