acquaint

verb

ac·quaint ə-ˈkwānt

acquainted; acquainting; acquaints

Synonyms of acquaint next

transitive verb

: to cause to know personally

was acquainted with the mayor

: 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.

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

Example Sentences

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 Still, travelers should acquaint themselves with weather and road conditions for the entire length of their route. —

oregonlive, 24 Dec. 2022 Gathered around the table were the executives of eight major American orchestras who had flown to L.A. to catch the concert and acquaint Dudamel with what their organizations had to offer. —

Ed Leibowitz, Time, 17 Oct. 2022 Graves advises climbers new to the spot to acquaint themselves with the short, relatively moderate Yellow Pine cliff—which ranges from 5.9 to 5.12—before moving on to classics like the three-pitch 5.11+ Imaginator. —

The Editors, Outside Online, 7 Dec. 2017 Joel also appreciates that Nikki exists on a show for young people, who get to acquaint themselves with trans people and stories through a positive, fun, and multidimensional character. —

Olivia Zayas Ryan, refinery29.com, 3 Aug. 2022 Narrating your activities will acquaint your child with human speech and language. —

Amy Dickinson, Washington Post, 21 July 2022 Narrating your activities will acquaint your child with human speech and language. —

Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, 21 July 2022 Narrating your activities will acquaint your child with human speech and language. —

cleveland, 21 July 2022 Narrating your activities will acquaint your child with human speech and language. —

Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 21 July 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'acquaint.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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

Time Traveler

The first known use of acquaint was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century