acquaintance

noun

ac·​quain·​tance ə-ˈkwān-tᵊn(t)s How to pronounce acquaintance (audio)
1
a
: the state of being acquainted
They had a long-standing acquaintance.
b
: personal knowledge : familiarity
had no acquaintance with the facts of the case
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
acquaintanceship noun

Did you know?

What's the difference between friends and acquaintances?

People often distinguish between an acquaintance and a friend, holding that the former should be used primarily to refer to someone with whom one is not especially close. Many of the earliest uses of acquaintance were in fact in reference to a person with whom one was very close, but the word is now generally reserved for those who are known only slightly.

Acquaintance is often found paired with nodding. Although nodding acquaintance sounds like it describes a person who is known just enough to nod at, it tends to be used instead to refer to a thing or field with which one has a small amount of knowledge or familiarity (and this is the meaning that the phrase has had since its introduction to the language in the early 19th century).

Examples of acquaintance in a Sentence

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
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
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
She ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store. our family's close acquaintance with our neighbors She struck up an acquaintance with a man from the city. He seemed cold at first, but on closer acquaintance I realized that he was just shy. While he has some acquaintance with the subject, he is not an expert.
Recent Examples on the Web While the therapist got ensnared in one of social media’s persistent, expensive problems, his acquaintance Bell fell victim to a Facebook hack. Jordan P. Hickey, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024 Earlier this year, Daria Chervona, a photo retoucher from Kyiv, was busy trying to raise 78 million Ukrainian hryvnia, about $2 million, for Ukraine’s army, posting daily on social media to urge friends and acquaintances to chip in. Daria Mitiuk, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024 James Lindsay had no experience in the music business when an acquaintance set up a meeting for him with the senior VP of marketing at Universal Music Group in 2006. Michael Butler, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024 During my visit, Daphne took calls from his lawyers and asked favors of his wife and flirted with acquaintances over WhatsApp. Longreads, 5 Mar. 2024 His aunt said the teen had been out with an older family acquaintance. Peter Hermann, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024 The chasm between Adra’s and Abraham’s respective acquaintances with the conflict is pointedly underlined, too. Guy Lodge, Variety, 23 Feb. 2024 The club is a place to gather with friends or business acquaintances to have drinks and small bites. The Indianapolis Star, 23 Feb. 2024 When Jones told the acquaintance to leave his apartment, the suspect shot him multiple times, according to the sheriff. Lauren Liebhaber, Kansas City Star, 23 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'acquaintance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acointance, aqueyntaunce, borrowed from Anglo-French acointance, aqueyntance, from acointer "to acquaint" + -ance -ance

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Time Traveler
The first known use of acquaintance was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near acquaintance

Cite this Entry

“Acquaintance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquaintance. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

acquaintance

noun
ac·​quain·​tance ə-ˈkwānt-ᵊn(t)s How to pronounce acquaintance (audio)
1
: knowledge gained by personal experience
had some acquaintance with the subject
2
: a person one knows slightly
acquaintanceship noun

More from Merriam-Webster on acquaintance

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