acquaintance

American  

[uh-kwayn-tns] / əˈkweɪn tns /

Also acquaintanceship

noun

• acquaintances
  plural

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.

   Synonyms:

   awareness, familiarity

4. (used with a plural verb) the persons with whom one is acquainted.

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acquaintance British  

/ əˈkweɪntəns /

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. 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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acquaintance Idioms  

1. see nodding acquaintance; scrape up an acquaintance.

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Synonym Usage

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 Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acquaintanceship
  noun
• nonacquaintance
  noun
• nonacquaintanceship
  noun
• preacquaintance
  noun
• pseudoacquaintance
  noun
• reacquaintance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acquaintances
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of acquaintance

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English acoyntaunce, aqueinta(u)nce, from Old French acointance; equivalent to acquaint + -ance

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Explanation

An acquaintance is someone you know a little about, but they’re not your best friend or anything. Acquaintance is also having knowledge about something specific, like horror films or the farming techniques of Chinese peasants. The root of acquaintance is the Old French word acointier, a verb meaning “make known.” Being the acquaintance of a person or topic means that you know something about it. An acquaintance is less intimate than a friend, like a person in your class whose name you know, but that’s it. When you “make the acquaintance of” someone, you meet them for the first time. If you know nothing about eggplants, you’d say, “I have little acquaintance with eggplants.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acquaintance acquaintances

The man, who has not been named, told officers that he had brought the animals back as a favour for a Brazilian acquaintance.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

In comments to the New York Times, Ballard denied personally using AI but said that an acquaintance she hired to edit the book, which was originally self-published, had used AI.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

A few weeks ago, I met an acquaintance for coffee at a Cuban café attached to a downtown hostel, where people with backpacks of varying dimensions passed steadily through the lobby.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

I have an acquaintance who started her own pet-sitting business four years ago.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Coram had arrived that day from the north, with a letter of introduction from an acquaintance of Professor Hallgrimsson’s, the consul of the witches at the town of Trollesund.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Maintaining an openness to people — and a willingness to strengthen connections with everyone from distant or estranged family members to friends, acquaintances and strangers — enables you to benefit from more social interaction.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2016, I started getting at least one inquiry a week from friends and acquaintances who were also expecting.

From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026

I’ve been inspired by friends and acquaintances sharing their personal-finance “mind hacks.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Yu, who said he’s spoken with his and Wang’s mutual acquaintances to offer help for Gu Grocery, noted that he hasn’t been approached by the mom-and-pop team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

I envy some of my friends who are convinced about telepathy; oddly enough, it is my European scientist acquaintances who believe it most freely and take it most lightly.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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Related Words

• associate
• colleague
• companion
• friend
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