acquaintance
1 ENTRIES FOUND:
plural
acquaintances
plural
acquaintances
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]
[noncount]
-
An acquaintanceship grew between the two men.
-
Her long acquaintanceship [=acquaintance] with sorrow began when her young husband died.
