acquaintance
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.
Origin of acquaintance
1- Also ac·quaint·ance·ship (for defs. 2, 3) .
synonym study For acquaintance
Other words for acquaintance
Other words from acquaintance
- non·ac·quaint·ance, noun
- non·ac·quaint·ance·ship, noun
- pre·ac·quaint·ance, noun
- pseu·do·ac·quaint·ance, noun
- re·ac·quaint·ance, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use acquaintance in a sentence
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 | THE DAILY BEASTNor, my heavy and immobile appearance notwithstanding, was I (I affirm this) a solitary because I was refused acquaintanceship.
In Accordance with the Evidence | Oliver OnionsBut it was one thing to strike up an acquaintanceship in Liverpool, and quite another to continue that acquaintanceship elsewhere.
Mushroom Town | Oliver OnionsWhat he meant by the first half of the statement was, no doubt: "Now we meet only on terms of polite acquaintanceship."
Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician | Frederick NiecksBut how needlessly Lady Eleanor Darcy must have lowered herself to incur such acquaintanceship!
The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. II (of II) | Charles James Lever
There was always about her a certain defensive reserve the moment the limits of acquaintanceship had been reached.
Murder in Any Degree | Owen Johnson
British Dictionary definitions for acquaintance
/ (əˈkweɪntəns) /
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, 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
Other Idioms and Phrases with 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.
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