acquaintance

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ac=quaint=ance

CIDE DICTIONARY

acquaintance, n. [OE. aqueintance, OF. acointance, fr. acointier. See Acquaint.].

•  A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy; as, I know the man; but have no acquaintance with him.  [1913 Webster]

  "Contract no friendship, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man."  [1913 Webster]
•  A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.  [1913 Webster]

  " In this sense the collective term acquaintance was formerly both singular and plural, but it is now commonly singular, and has the regular plural acquaintances."  [1913 Webster]

  "Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson."  [1913 Webster]

  "Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him."  [1913 Webster]

  "We contract at last such a familiarity with them as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call off our minds."  [1913 Webster]

  "It is in our power to confine our friendships and intimacies to men of virtue."  [1913 Webster]

To be of acquaintance, to be intimate. -- To take acquaintance of or with, to make the acquaintance of. [Obs.]

Syn. -- Familiarity; intimacy; fellowship; knowledge.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

acquaintance, n.
1 (usu. foll. by with) slight knowledge (of a person or thing).
2 the fact or process of being acquainted (our acquaintance lasted a year).
3 a person one knows slightly.

Idiom

make one's acquaintance first meet or introduce oneself to another person. make the acquaintance of come to know.

Derivative

acquaintanceship n.

Etymology

ME f. OF acointance (as ACQUAINT)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

acquaintance

n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.

THESAURUS

acquaintance

account, acquaintedness, advocate, alter ego, amigo, announcement, appreciation, apprehension, associate, awareness, backer, best friend, blue book, bosom friend, briefing, brother, bulletin, casual acquaintance, close acquaintance, close friend, colleague, communication, communique, companion, comrade, confidant, confidante, consciousness, corpus, crony, data, datum, directory, dispatch, enlightenment, evidence, experience, expertise, facts, factual base, factual information, familiar, familiarity, familiarization, favorer, fellow, fellow creature, fellowman, friend, gen, general information, grasp, guidebook, handout, hard information, incidental information, info, information, inseparable friend, instruction, intelligence, intimacy, intimate, introduction, inwardness, ken, knockdown, know-how, knowing, knowledge, light, lover, mate, mention, message, neighbor, notice, notification, other self, partisan, pickup, practical knowledge, presentation, private knowledge, privity, promotional material, proof, publication, publicity, ratio cognoscendi, release, report, repository, self-knowledge, sidelight, statement, supporter, sympathizer, technic, technics, technique, the dope, the goods, the know, the scoop, transmission, understanding, well-wisher, white book, white paper, word

ROGET THESAURUS

acquaintance

Friendship

N friendship, amity, friendliness, brotherhood, fraternity, sodality, confraternity, harmony, peace, firm friendship, staunch friendship, intimate friendship, familiar friendship, bosom friendship, cordial friendship, tried friendship, devoted friendship, lasting friendship, fast friendship, sincere friendship, warm friendship, ardent friendship, cordiality, fraternization, entente cordiale, good understanding, rapprochement, sympathy, fellow-feeling, response, welcomeness, affection, favoritism, good will, acquaintance, familiarity, intimacy, intercourse, fellowship, knowledge of, introduction, friendly, amicable, amical, well-affected, unhostile, neighborly, brotherly, fraternal, sympathetic, harmonious, hearty, cordial, warm- hearted, friends with, well with, at home with, hand in hand with, on good terms, on friendly terms, on amicable terms, on cordial terms, on familiar terms, on intimate terms, on good footing, on speaking terms, on visiting terms, in one's good graces, in one's good books, acquainted, familiar, intimate, thick, hand and glove, hail fellow well met, free and easy, welcome, amicably, with open arms, sans ceremonie, arm in arm, amicitia semper prodest, a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one, friendship is love without either flowers or veil, trulgus amicitias utilitate probat.

Friend

N friend, friend of one's bosom, alter ego, best friend, bosom friend, soulmate, fast friend, amicus, usque ad aras, fidus Achates, persona grata, acquaintance, neighbor, next-door neighbor, casual acquaintance, nodding acquaintance, wellwisher, favorer, fautor, patron, Mecaenas, tutelary saint, good genius, advocate, partisan, sympathizer, ally, friend in need, comrade, mate, companion, familiar, confrere, comrade, camarade, confidante, intimate, old crony, crony, chum, pal, buddy, bosom buddy, playfellow, playmate, childhood friend, bedfellow, bedmate, chamber fellow, associate, colleague, compeer, schoolmate, schoolfellow, classfellow, classman, classmate, roommate, fellow-man, stable companion, best man, maid of honor, matron of honor, compatriot, fellow countryman, countryman, shopmate, fellow-worker, shipmate, messmate, fellow companion, boon companion, pot companion, copartner, partner, senior partner, junior partner, Arcades ambo Pylades and Orestes Castor and Pollux, Nisus and Euryalus, Damon and Pythias, par nobile fratrum, host, Amphitryon, Boniface, guest, visitor, prot_eg_e, amici probantur rebus adversis, ohne bruder kann man leben nicht ohne Freund, best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness, conocidos muchos amigos pocos, friend more divine than all divinities, vida sin amigo muerte sin testigo.

Knowledge

N knowledge, cognizance, cognition, cognoscence, acquaintance, experience, ken, privity, insight, familiarity, comprehension, apprehension, recognition, appreciation, intuition, conscience, consciousness, perception, precognition, acroamatics, light, enlightenment, glimpse, inkling, glimmer, glimmering, dawn, scent, suspicion, impression, discovery, system of knowledge, body of knowledge, science, philosophy, pansophy, acroama, theory, aetiology, etiology, circle of the sciences, pandect, doctrine, body of doctrine, cyclopedia, encyclopedia, school, tree of knowledge, republic of letters, erudition, learning, lore, scholarship, reading, letters, literature, book madness, book learning, bookishness, bibliomania, bibliolatry, information, general information, store of knowledge, education, culture, menticulture, attainments, acquirements, acquisitions, accomplishments, proficiency, practical knowledge, liberal education, dilettantism, rudiments, deep knowledge, profound knowledge, solid knowledge, accurate knowledge, acroatic knowledge, acroamatic knowledge, vast knowledge, extensive knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge, encyclopedic learning, omniscience, pantology, march of intellect, progress of science, advance of science, advance of learning, schoolmaster abroad, scholar, knowing, cognitive, acroamatic, aware of, cognizant of, conscious of, acquainted with, made acquainted with, privy to, no stranger to, au fait with, au courant, in the secret, up to, alive to, behind the scenes, behind the curtain, let into, apprized of, informed of, undeceived, proficient with, versed with, read with, forward with, strong with, at home in, conversant with, familiar with, erudite, instructed, leaned, lettered, educated, well conned, well informed, well read, well grounded, well educated, enlightened, shrewd, savant, blue, bookish, scholastic, solid, profound, deep-read, book- learned, accomplished, omniscient, self-taught, known, ascertained, well-known, recognized, received, notorious, noted, proverbial, familiar, familiar as household words, familiar to every schoolboy, hackneyed, trite, trivial, commonplace, cognoscible, cognizable, to one's knowledge, to the best of one's knowledge, one's eyes being opened, ompredre tout c'est tout pardonner, to know all is to pardon all, empta dolore docet experientia, gnothi seauton, half our knowledge we must snatch not take, Jahre lehren mehr als Bucher, years teach more than books, knowledge comes but wisdom lingers, knowledge is power, les affaires font les hommes, nec scire fas est omnia, the amassed thought and experience of innumerable, was ich nicht weiss macht mich nicht heiss.

Information

N information, enlightenment, acquaintance, knowledge, publicity, data, communication, intimation, notice, notification, enunciation, annunciation, announcement, communiqu_e, representation, round robin, presentment, case, estimate, specification, report, advice, monition, news, return, account, statement, mention, acquainting, instruction, outpouring, intercommunication, communicativeness, informant, authority, teller, intelligencer, reporter, exponent, mouthpiece, informer, eavesdropper, delator, detective, sleuth, mouchard, spy, newsmonger, messenger, amicus curiae, valet de place, cicerone, pilot, guide, guidebook, handbook, vade mecum, manual, map, plan, chart, gazetteer, itinerary, hint, suggestion, innuendo, inkling, whisper, passing word, word in the ear, subaudition, cue, byplay, gesture, gentle hint, broad hint, verbum sapienti, a word to the wise, insinuation, information theory, bit, byte, word, doubleword, quad word, paragraph, segment, magnetic media, paper medium, optical media, random access memory, RAM, read-only memory, ROM, write once read mostly memory, WORM, informed, communique, reported, published, expressive, explicit plain spoken, (artless), nuncupative, nuncupatory, declaratory, expository, enunciative, communicative, communicatory, from information received, a little bird told me, I heard it through the grapevine.