Acquaintance Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary (original) (raw)

Britannica Dictionary definition of ACQUAINTANCE

1

[count]

:

someone who is known but who is not a close friend

• Is he an acquaintance of yours? [=have you met him?]
• She ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store.
• My wife and I met through a mutual acquaintance. [=a friend introduced us to each other]
• a casual acquaintance
• friends and acquaintances

2

[noncount]

formal

:

the state of knowing someone in a personal or social way

:

the state of knowing someone as an acquaintance

• our family's close acquaintance with our neighbors
• It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. [=(less formally) it's nice to meet you]
• She made the acquaintance of [=she met] a man from the city.
• She struck up an acquaintance with a man from the city.
• a doctor of my acquaintance [=a doctor that I know]
• He seemed cold on/at first acquaintance [=when I first met him], but later I realized that he was just shy.
• He seemed cold at first, but on closer/further acquaintance I realized that he was just shy.

3

:

knowledge about something

— + with

[singular]

• She has only a nodding/slight/superficial acquaintance with the facts of the case. [=she knows only a little about the facts of the case]
• He has more than a passing acquaintance with wine. [=he knows a lot about wine]

[noncount]

• While he has some acquaintance with the subject, he is not an expert.

— acquaintanceship

noun,

plural

acquaintanceships

[count]

• An acquaintanceship grew between the two men.

[noncount]

• Her long acquaintanceship [=_acquaintance_] with sorrow began when her young husband died.