As mentioned, the term tactical is thrown around a lot as synonymous with modern as seen in the above example by corwise. However I believe that definition of tactical is incorrect. Tactical knives are knives meant for fighting or self defense. Take Emersons for example. Emerson designed those knives first and foremost as weapons. They are designed to slash and stab when needed as a backup weapon or even a backup to your backup. Sure, they can be used for utility tasks, but that's not their purpose and there are usually better tools for the job. The spyderco civilian is another perfect example of a tactical knife, it is meant to slash huge gashes in anything it touches and that's about it.
On the flip side you have companies like strider who's knives are often referred to as tactical but where really designed strictly for utility and would truthfully make a quite poor fighting knife. Hinderers designs are another example of this. Hinderer designs knives as tools first, not weapons, yet the Hinderer knives and Hinderer designed Zt's are many times referred to as tactical.
Now on the far end of the spectrum is tacticool, which is the trend that gives modern knives a bad name in my opinion. Mall ninjas and keyboard commandos love these knives, they're big, black, jagged, over designed aggressive looking knives that are usually opened and used in such a fashion that scares the bejesus out of just about everyone around them. In reality the problem is the owners but the owner's choice in knives typically gives other knives with similar features a bad name.
So, in short, the only knives that are actually tactical knives are the ones whose sole purpose is to be used as a weapon or as self defense.
