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
   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

With every bit of trivia I learned, the walk I thought I knew well surprised me, like a longtime acquaintance shedding their persona, revealing unexpected sides of themselves.

From Los Angeles Times

A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

From Los Angeles Times

She grudgingly asks acquaintances for help - most often with no success.

From BBC

I’m referring to intelligent, well-read acquaintances who’ve strangely changed in the last decade; they might not say they’ve become Trump supporters or reactionaries in general, but the sole thrust of their argument is “something-something woke.”

From Salon

Travelers marveled at it, and word of it reached the desk of William Saunders, an acquaintance of the Tibbetses and the man in charge of horticultural experiments at the gardens of the newly created U.S.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• associate
• colleague
• companion
• friend
• neighbor