acquaintance

[ uh-kweyn-tns ]

/ əˈkweɪn tns /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR acquaintance ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Nearby words

acoustoelectronic, acoustooptics, acp, acpt., acquaint, acquaintance, acquaintance rape, acquaintance violence, acquainted, acquest, acquiesce

Also ac·quaint·ance·ship (for defs 2, 3).

Origin of acquaintance

1250–1300; Middle English aqueinta(u)nce, acoyntaunce < Old French acointance. See acquaint, -ance

SYNONYMS FOR acquaintance

3 familiarity, awareness.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR acquaintance ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

non·ac·quaint·ance, nounnon·ac·quaint·ance·ship, nounpre·ac·quaint·ance, nounpseu·do·ac·quaint·ance, noun

re·ac·quaint·ance, noun

Synonym study

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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for acquaintanceship

Police say they believe the younger suspect used the acquaintanceship to draw her into the house, where she was strangled.
Was Autumn Pasquale Killed Over a Bicycle? Teen Brothers Charged|Michael Daly|October 24, 2012|DAILY BEAST
You must be perfectly plain and frank with me, or our acquaintanceship will wither away.
The Captain's Toll-Gate|Frank R. Stockton
And then—to be so eager to continue the acquaintanceship with the uncivil girl!
Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall|Annie Roe Carr
The two young men found they had very little in common and the acquaintanceship dropped.
Peter Binney|Archibald Marshall

"Well, I'm glad you've come," said Mrs. Richards, after their acquaintanceship had mellowed66 a day or two.
Wayside Courtships|Hamlin Garland
Only a five-day acquaintanceship, but they had crowded much into it as one did in a strange land.
Saint's Progress|John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for acquaintanceship

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

acquaintanceship, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with acquaintanceship

acquaintance

see nodding acquaintance; scrape up an acquaintance.