Link Centre Dictionary

acquaintance

ac·quain·tance

UK/əˈkweɪntəns/ US/ʌˈkweɪn.təns/ fairly common

noun

1.
2.
3.

a person with whom you are acquainted

  • “I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances”
  • “we are friends of the family”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English aqueyntaunce, from Anglo-Norman aquaintaunce, aqueintance, Old French acointance (“friendship, familiarity”), from Old French acointier (“to acquaint”). Compare French accointance. Morphologically acquaint + -ance.

Phrases

  • acquaintance rape
  • chance acquaintance
  • make someone's acquaintance
  • nodding acquaintance
  • renew acquaintances
  • scrape acquaintance

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.