acquaintance

[ uh-kweyn-tns ]

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.

   Synonyms: awareness, familiarity

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

acquaintance

/ 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. make the acquaintance of
   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 )

Derived Forms

• acˈquaintanceˌship, noun

Other Words From

• 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of acquaintance¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see nodding acquaintance ; scrape up an acquaintance .

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

As Coupang CEO Bom Kim sought to scale his business over the summer, Pham, previously considering an early retirement following his stint at Uber, was introduced by a mutual acquaintance, making their first meeting over video chat.

From Fortune

That’s why a picture of a new baby from a long-ago acquaintance will vault to the top of your Facebook feed, even if you haven’t seen any other posts by that person for years.

From Fortune

The slowing down of the glaciers is a private plan by a glaciologist of my acquaintance who doesn’t want to get into the geo-engineering wars.

From Nautilus

I don’t want bloodshed or violence, and it hurts me to watch acquaintances and friends being beaten, and now I hear they’re getting ready to start shooting people.

From Ozy

So it seems like the answer is just to have a bunch of casual acquaintances to whom you can’t really feel anything terrible.

From Freakonomics

Should old acquaintance be forgot, just remember a few of the resolutions the Founding Fathers (would have) made this year.

From The Daily Beast

Another acquaintance described Seevakumaran as “a creep,” who would “constantly hit on women.”

From The Daily Beast

He insulted a female poet of his acquaintance by remarking “that she and her family were Jews.”

From The Daily Beast

Not long ago, I mentioned the Victims of Communism Memorial to an acquaintance.

From The Daily Beast

In the early 2000s, an acquaintance told Sun about the possibility of doing business in Ethiopia.

From The Daily Beast

A child begins to make acquaintance with the images of things when set before a mirror.

From Project Gutenberg

He made the acquaintance of some courtiers, who felt or affected an interest in learning and in learned men.

From Project Gutenberg

By its operation Gordon Wright, the most sensible man of our acquaintance, is reduced to the level of infancy!

From Project Gutenberg

It was the Town Crier, with whom, as with a brother artist, he had picked acquaintance the day before.

From Project Gutenberg

For Lettice—the tender woman of his first acquaintance—had obviously experienced a moment of reaction.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• associate
• colleague
• companion
• friend
• neighbor