acquaintance

ac·quain·tance

noun \ə-ˈkwān-t^ən(t)s\

Definition of ACQUAINTANCE

1

a : the state of being acquainted b : personal knowledge : familiarity

2

a : the persons with whom one is acquainted <should auld acquaintance be forgot — Robert Burns> b : a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend <a casual acquaintance>

— ac·quain·tance·ship \-ˌship\ noun

Examples of ACQUAINTANCE

1. She ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store.
2. our family's close acquaintance with our neighbors
3. She struck up an acquaintance with a man from the city.
4. He seemed cold at first, but on closer acquaintance I realized that he was just shy.
5. While he has some acquaintance with the subject, he is not an expert.
6. But Francis later found out that the dinner acquaintance who sweet-talked him got a thank-you check for three thousand pounds. —Julian Barnes, New Yorker, 20 Sept. 1993
7. But all those qualities are so wrapped up in others that one could hardly ask for two men who are, at first acquaintance, more different. —Peter Garrison, Air & Space, October/November 1991
8. A classical education, or at any rate a very extensive acquaintance with English literature, ancient and modern, appears to me quite indispensable for the person who would do any just to your clergyman; and I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress. —Jane Austen, letter, 11 Dec. 1815

Origin of ACQUAINTANCE

(see acquaint)

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to ACQUAINTANCE

Synonyms: cognizance, familiarity

Antonyms: unfamiliarity

Related Words: association, experience, exposure, intimacy, involvement; initiation, introduction; awareness, comprehension, conception, inkling, notion, understanding; education, enlightenment, grounding, information, instruction, learning, schooling, training

Near Antonyms: callowness, greenness, ignorance, inexperience

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