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Webster 1913 Edition
Acquaintance
1.
A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy;
as, I know the man; but have no
acquaintance
with him.Contract no friendship, or even
acquaintance
, with a guileful man. Sir W. Jones.
2.
A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
Montgomery was an old
acquaintance
of Ferguson. Macaulay.
☞ In this sense the collective term acquaintance was formerly both singular and plural, but it is now commonly singular, and has the regular plural acquaintances.
To be of acquaintance
, to be intimate.
– To take acquaintance of
or with
to make the acquaintance of.
[Obs.]
Syn. – Familiarity; intimacy; fellowship; knowledge.
–
Acquaintance
, Familiarity
, Intimacy
. These words mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse; as, our acquaintance has been a brief one. We can speak of a slight or an intimate acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve; as, the familiarity of old companions. Intimacy is the result of close connection, and the freest interchange of thought; as, the intimacy of established friendship. Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer
acquaintance
with him. Addison.
We contract at last such a
familiarity
with them as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call off our minds. Atterbury.
It is in our power to confine our friendships and
intimacies
to men of virtue. Rogers.
Webster 1828 Edition
Acquaintance
ACQUAI'NTANCE
,Noun.
1.
Familiar knowledge; a state of being acquainted, or of having intimate or more than slight or superficial knowledge; as, I know the man, but have no acquaintance with him. Sometimes it denotes a more slight knowledge.2.
A person or persons well known; usually persons we have been accustomed to see and converse with; sometimes, persons more slightly known.Lover and friend has thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness. Ps. 88.
My acquaintance are estranged from me. Job 19.
Acquaintances, in the plural is used, as applied to individual persons known; but more generally, acquaintance is used for one or more.
Acquaintant, in a like sense, is not used.
Definition 2024
acquaintance
acquaintance
English
Alternative forms
Noun
acquaintance (plural acquaintances)
- (uncountable) A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy
- I know of the man; but have no acquaintance with him.
- 1799, William Jones (translator), Hito'pade'sa, in The Works, Volume 6, page 22:
- Contract no friendſhip, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man : he reſembles a coal, which when hot burneth the hand, and when cold blacketh it.
- (countable) A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History Of England From the Accession of James II, Chapter XVI:
- Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson.
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History Of England From the Accession of James II, Chapter XVI:
Usage notes
- Synonym notes: The words acquaintance, familiarity, and intimacy mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse; as, our acquaintance has been a brief one. We can speak of a slight or an intimate acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve; as, the familiarity of old companions. Intimacy is the result of close connection, and the freest interchange of thought; as, the intimacy of established friendship.
Synonyms
- familiarity, fellowship, intimacy, knowledge
- See also Wikisaurus:acquaintance
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
state of being acquainted
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person
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References
- acquaintance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- acquaintance at OneLook Dictionary Search