acquaintance
[ uh-kweyn-tns ]
/ əˈkweɪn tns /
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noun
a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.
the state of being acquainted or casually familiar with someone or something: As far as I know, no one of my acquaintance has traveled around the world.
personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc.: a good acquaintance with French wines.
(used with a plural verb) the persons with whom one is acquainted.
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Also ac·quaint·ance·ship (for defs. 2, 3) .
Origin of acquaintance
synonym study for acquaintance
1. Acquaintance, associate, companion, friend refer to a person with whom one is in contact. An acquaintance is someone recognized by sight or someone known, though not intimately: a casual acquaintance. An associate is a person who is often in one's company, usually because of some work, enterprise, or pursuit in common: a business associate. A companion is a person who shares one's activities, fate, or condition: a traveling companion; companion in despair. A friend is a person with whom one is on intimate terms and for whom one feels a warm affection: a trusted friend.
OTHER WORDS FROM acquaintance
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for acquaintance
British Dictionary definitions for acquaintance
acquaintance
/ (əˈkweɪntəns) /
noun
a person with whom one has been in contact but who is not a close friend
knowledge of a person or thing, esp when slight
make the acquaintance of to come into social contact with
those persons collectively whom one knows
philosophy the relation between a knower and the object of his knowledge, as contrasted with knowledge by description (esp in the phrase knowledge by acquaintance)
Derived forms of acquaintance
acquaintanceship, nounCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Idioms and Phrases with acquaintance
acquaintance
see nodding acquaintance; scrape up an acquaintance.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.