acquaintance

noun

ac·​quain·​tance ə-ˈkwān-tᵊn(t)s 

1

a

: the state of being acquainted

They had a long-standing acquaintance.

b

: personal knowledge : familiarity

had no acquaintance with the facts of the case

2

a

: the persons with whom one is acquainted

Should auld acquaintance be forgot …

—Robert Burns

b

: a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend

a casual acquaintance

acquaintanceship

ə-ˈkwān-tᵊn(t)s-ˌship 

noun

Did you know?

What's the difference between friends and acquaintances?

People often distinguish between an acquaintance and a friend, holding that the former should be used primarily to refer to someone with whom one is not especially close. Many of the earliest uses of acquaintance were in fact in reference to a person with whom one was very close, but the word is now generally reserved for those who are known only slightly.

Acquaintance is often found paired with nodding. Although nodding acquaintance sounds like it describes a person who is known just enough to nod at, it tends to be used instead to refer to a thing or field with which one has a small amount of knowledge or familiarity (and this is the meaning that the phrase has had since its introduction to the language in the early 19th century).

Synonyms

• cognizance
• familiarity

Examples of acquaintance in a Sentence

But Francis later found out that the dinner acquaintance who sweet-talked him got a thank-you check for three thousand pounds. —Julian Barnes, New Yorker, 20 Sept. 1993

But all those qualities are so wrapped up in others that one could hardly ask for two men who are, at first acquaintance, more different. —Peter Garrison, Air & Space, October/November 1991

A classical education, or at any rate a very extensive acquaintance with English literature, ancient and modern, appears to me quite indispensable for the person who would do any just to your clergyman; and I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress. —Jane Austen, letter, 11 Dec. 1815

She ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store.

our family's close acquaintance with our neighbors

She struck up an acquaintance with a man from the city.

He seemed cold at first, but on closer acquaintance I realized that he was just shy.

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

Recent Examples on the Web

In the coming weeks, Ross, Grant, and their circle entertained a raft of names for their fledgling creation—Manhattan, New York Weekly, New York Life, Truth, Our Town—before another acquaintance, the Broadway press agent John Toohey, came up with The New Yorker. —David Remnick, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025

The jury also heard testimony from an acquaintance who said Nelson admitted killing Dobson. —Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Feb. 2025

She was invited to the game by an acquaintance of hers, who at the time was a prominent person in the industry. —Claudia Rosenbaum, Vulture, 5 Feb. 2025

But to put conspiracy theories to rest, Griffin wonders if the tax returns of an acquaintance of Oswald’s, Ruth Paine, are in the remaining files because they have never been revealed. —Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 31 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acointance, aqueyntaunce, borrowed from Anglo-French acointance, aqueyntance, from acointer "to acquaint" + -ance -ance

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Phrases Containing acquaintance

• acquaintance rape
• a nodding acquaintance
• make one's acquaintance
• make the acquaintance of someone
• more than a passing acquaintance with
• of one's acquaintance
• on/at first acquaintance

Kids Definition

acquaintance

noun

ac·​quain·​tance ə-ˈkwānt-ᵊn(t)s 

1

: knowledge gained by personal experience

had some acquaintance with the subject

2

: a person one knows slightly

acquaintanceship

-ˌship 

noun