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acquaintance

[uh-kweyn-tns]
See more synonyms for acquaintance on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.
  2. 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.
  3. personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc.: a good acquaintance with French wines.
  4. (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

1250–1300; Middle English aqueinta(u)nce, acoyntaunce < Old French acointance. See acquaint, -ance
Related formsnon·ac·quaint·ance, nounnon·ac·quaint·ance·ship, nounpre·ac·quaint·ance, nounpseu·do·ac·quaint·ance, nounre·ac·quaint·ance, noun

Synonyms

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3. familiarity, awareness.

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. 2018

Related Words

partnershipcooperationinformationperceptionconsciousnessattentionexperienceunderstandingappreciationalertnessrealizationrecognitionboldnessintimacyclosenessfreshnesspactaccordlovedevotion

Examples from the Web for acquaintanceship

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The Doctor was learned; but this acquaintanceship, this education, he had never got.

    Dr. Sevier

    George W. Cable

  • I ask this because I'm afraid that if he does, he might object to our—our acquaintanceship.

    Mixed Faces

    Roy Norton

  • In fact, one thing is clear to me, she must discontinue your acquaintanceship at once.

  • It might at least go some way towards finishing our acquaintanceship.

  • For the first time in our acquaintanceship, I succeeded in interesting him in the Indian.

British Dictionary definitions for acquaintanceship

acquaintance

noun
  1. a person with whom one has been in contact but who is not a close friend
  2. knowledge of a person or thing, esp when slight
  3. make the acquaintance of to come into social contact with
  4. those persons collectively whom one knows
  5. 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)
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Derived Formsacquaintanceship, 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

Word Origin and History for acquaintanceship

acquaintance

n.

c.1300, "state of being acquainted;" late 14c., "person with whom one is acquainted;" also "personal knowledge;" from Old French acointance "acquaintance, friendship, familiarity," noun of action from acointer (see acquaint). Acquaintant (17c.), would have been better in the "person known" sense but is now obsolete.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with acquaintanceship

acquaintance

see nodding acquaintance; scrape up an acquaintance.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.