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 of acquaint

• introduce
• educate
• familiarize

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

Hudson and Toney go a ways back — Toney went to school with Hudson’s mom, and each other’s families are acquainted. —Kansas City Star, 9 Jan. 2026

The third, Mustafa Fteja — who prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint was already acquainted with the juror and contacted him to make the bribe offer — does not appear on the indictment. —John Annese, New York Daily News, 6 Jan. 2026

Subscribers to our twice-monthly TechLine newsletter already are acquainted with many of these happenings – sign up here to keep current. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 3 Jan. 2026

Maximize Efficiency with the Delay Timer Become well acquainted with the delay timer on your washing machine to maximize your laundry power. —Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 1 Jan. 2026

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

Rhymes for acquaint

• complaint
• constraint
• distraint
• enceinte
• repaint
• restraint
• faint
• feint
• maint
• paint
• plaint
• quaint

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