ACQUAINTANCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Acquaintance

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/əkwˈeɪntəns/ Listen

noun

Acquaintance n.

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."

A person or persons with whom one is acquainted. "Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson." Note: 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 To take acquaintance with, to make the acquaintance of. (Obs.)

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." "We contract at last such a familiarity with them as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call off our minds." "It is in our power to confine our friendships and intimacies to men of virtue."

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Etymology of 'Acquaintance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Acquaintance" Quotes from Famous Books

... alone; while I had met them almost entirely in society. I never found so much time to spare as she seemed to have; for everybody liked her, and everybody sought her. As often as we had talked over our acquaintance, she was wary of speaking of Redmond. Her last conversation with me revealed her thoughts, and awakened feelings which I thought I had buffeted down. The tone of Harry Lothrop's note perplexed me, and I found myself ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 31, May, 1860 • Various

... confidential secretary, expressed no emotion whatever. Sir Richard Haredale flashed contempt from his grey eyes—only to veil his scorn of the man's vulgarity beneath a cloud of tobacco smoke. Tom Sheard, of the Gleaner, drew down a corner of his mouth and felt ashamed of the acquaintance. Denby, the music-hall comedian, softly whistled those bars of a popular ballad set to the words, "I ...

— The Sins of Severac Bablon • Sax Rohmer

... pilots; but I could not help gazing on him with a feeling of mystery and interest which cannot easily be described. His whole appearance bore a close resemblance to all I had read and seen in pictures of the Esquimaux; and now I have formed their acquaintance personally, I feel assured that the Norwegians are a branch of ...

— A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden - 2nd edition • W. A. Ross

... jiu-jitsu school at the end of the second lesson with a nodding acquaintance with some very pretty holds and a very firm determination to practise them on Alfred when he got back to the office ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, November 18, 1914 • Various

... To this was hung a heavy revolver. On his head was a broad-brimmed cork helmet, much soiled, and resembling in shape the Mexican sombrero. Beneath this head-gear was a mass of brown hair, which showed a non-acquaintance with barbers for, perhaps, months, and under this hair a sun-tanned face, lighted by serious gray eyes. The most noticeable feature of this face was the extreme arching of the eyebrows—a never-failing index of the highest form of courage. It was a face that would please. The face of the other ...

— Great Sea Stories • Various

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