acquaint

verb

ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt 

acquainted; acquainting; acquaints

transitive verb

1

: to cause to know personally

was acquainted with the mayor

2

: to make familiar : to cause to know firsthand

acquainting the new employees with their responsibilities

She took a few days to acquaint herself with the facts of the case.

Synonyms

• accustom
• familiarize
• initiate
• introduce
• orient
• orientate

Choose the Right Synonym for acquaint

inform, acquaint, apprise, notify mean to make one aware of something.

inform implies the imparting of knowledge especially of facts or occurrences.

informed us of the crisis

acquaint lays stress on introducing to or familiarizing with.

acquaint yourself with the keyboard

apprise implies communicating something of special interest or importance.

keep us apprised of the situation

notify implies sending notice of something requiring attention or demanding action.

notified the witness when to appear

Examples of acquaint in a Sentence

This class is designed to acquaint students with the region's most important writers.

Mr. King spent the first week of the summer internship acquainting everyone with the new computers.

Recent Examples on the Web

She’s also started to get acquainted with her kitchen, learning to chef up recipes like a ham and honeydew appetizer and a good soup. —Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 19 July 2024

The couple started dating after becoming acquainted during a weekly debate event and remained together throughout their college careers, according to the biography Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC. —Alex Gurley, Peoplemag, 3 July 2024

And as the nation became acquainted with LAMP, Indianapolis' musicians felt its impact. —Domenica Bongiovanni, The Indianapolis Star, 27 June 2024

George Van Tassel had become acquainted with Critzer — and enamored of Giant Rock — after helping to fix Critzer’s Essex at his uncle’s repair shop in Santa Monica years before. —Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acoynten, aqueynten, borrowed from Anglo-French acuinter, acointer, aqueinter, going back to Vulgar Latin *accognitāre, frequentative formation from the base of Latin accognōscere "to recognize," from ad- ad- + cognōscere "to get to know" — more at cognition, quaint

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing acquaint

• acquaint oneself with

Kids Definition

acquaint

verb

ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt 

1

: to cause to know socially

became acquainted at school

2

: to cause to know firsthand : inform

acquaint her with her duties