acquaintance
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)acquaintances
- personal knowledge or information about someone or somethingSynonyms: familiarityconversanceconversancyType of information
- a relationship less intimate than friendshipSynonyms: acquaintanceshipType of relationship
- a person with whom you are acquainted“I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances”“we are friends of the family”Synonyms: friendOpposite alien, strangerType of actor, doerKinds schoolmate, bunkmate, connection, campmate, pickup, messmate, end man, homeboy
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. aqueintance, OF. acointance, fr. acointier. See Acquaint.
1. A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy; as, I know the man; but have no acquaintance with him.
Contract no friendship, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man.— Sir William Jones
2. A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
☞ In this sense the collective term acquaintance was formerly both singular and plural, but it is now commonly singular, and has the regular plural acquaintances.
To be of acquaintance, to be intimate. — To take acquaintance of or with, to make the acquaintance of. obsolete
Synonyms: Familiarity; intimacy; fellowship; knowledge. — Acquaintance, Familiarity, Intimacy. These words mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse; as, our acquaintance has been a brief one. We can speak of a slight or an intimate acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve; as, the familiarity of old companions. Intimacy is the result of close connection, and the freest interchange of thought; as, the intimacy of established friendship.
Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him.— Joseph Addison
We contract at last such a familiarity with them as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call off our minds.— Francis Atterbury
It is in our power to confine our friendships and intimacies to men of virtue.— Rogers
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54