A Topical Dictionary: Search for acquaintance

Dictionary Results For "acquaintance" [?]/[OPML]

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GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Acquaintance \Ac*quaint"ance\, n. [OE. aqueintance, OF.
acointance, fr. acointier. See Acquaint.]
1. 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. --Sir W.
Jones.
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2. A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
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Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson.
--Macaulay.
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Note: 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.
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To be of acquaintance, to be intimate.

To take acquaintance of or with, to make the acquaintance
of. [Obs.]
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Syn: Familiarity; intimacy; fellowship; knowledge.

Usage: Acquaintance, Familiarity, Intimacy. These words
mark different degrees of closeness in social
intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional
intercourse; as, our acquaintance has been a brief
one. We can speak of a slight or an intimate
acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued
acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently
together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve;
as, the familiarity of old companions. Intimacy is the
result of close connection, and the freest interchange
of thought; as, the intimacy of established
friendship.
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Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our
nearer acquaintance with him. --Addison.
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We contract at last such a familiarity with them
as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call
off our minds. --Atterbury.
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It is in our power to confine our friendships
and intimacies to men of virtue. --Rogers.
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WordNet Acquaintance
n 1: personal knowledge or information about someone or something
[syn: familiarity, conversance, conversancy]
2: a relationship less intimate than friendship [syn: acquaintanceship]
3: a person with whom you are acquainted; "I have trouble
remembering the names of all my acquaintances"; "we are
friends of the family" [syn: friend]

Moby Dictionary
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

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.