Acquaintance Meaning
/əˈkweɪntəns/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA state of being acquainted with a person; originally indicating friendship, intimacy, but now suggesting a slight knowledge less deep than that of friendship; acquaintanceship.
nounA person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
Sentence Examples
I have some acquaintance with chemistry.
Do you have a business acquaintance in Randolph., Ltd?
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
I saw an old ____ at the store but forgot her name.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He is more of a casual ____ than a close friend of mine.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Contract no friendſhip, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man : he reſembles a coal, which when hot burneth the hand, and when cold blacketh it."
— 1799, “Hito'pade'sa”, in William Jones, transl., The Works, volume 6, page 22:
"Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson."
— 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVI, in The History Of England From the Accession of James II:
"Having therefore conſulted with my Wife, and ſome of my Acquaintance, I determined to go again to Sea."
— 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 3:
"Their mother […] was busy in the mean time in keeping up her connections, as she termed a numerous acquaintance, lest her girls should want a proper introduction into the great world."
— 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
"The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance."
— 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I saw an old ____ at the store but forgot her name.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He is more of a casual ____ than a close friend of mine.