phatic

Plural: phatics

Adj

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

Noun

A phatic utterance.

Adjective

Pertaining to speech used for social communication rather than conveying ideas.

Examples

His "Good game!" after a win was merely PHATIC, not genuinely acknowledging the struggle.
Some dialects of a language may use a certain term or phrase in a phatic way, even if other dialects don't.
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.

Origin / Etymology

From Ancient Greek φατός (phatós, “spoken”) - from φημί (phēmí, “I say”) - + -ic.
Probably formally influenced by emphatic, which predates this term.

Scrabble Score: 13

phatic: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
phatic: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
phatic: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

phatic: valid Words With Friends Word