Definition of "phatic" in English

adjective

1. (linguistics) Pertaining to words used to convey any kind of social relationship and whose meaning is otherwise either deemphasized or absent.

   • You needn't be angry about the insincerity of shopkeepers' how-are-you greetings. Well-adjusted people understand that the question is phatic in the context and that that's usually no problem.
   • Some dialects of a language may use a certain term or phrase in a phatic way, even if other dialects don't.

noun

1. (linguistics) A phatic utterance.