acquaintance
noun
Simple meaning
Originally indicating friendship, intimacy, but now suggesting a slight knowledge less deep than that of friendship.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhkwayntuhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əkˈweɪntəns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person with whom you are acquainted
“I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances.”
countable
A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
Personal knowledge or information about someone or something
Personal knowledge (with a specific subject etc.).
uncountable
Such people collectively; one's circle of acquaintances (with plural concord).
uncountable
A state of being acquainted with a person; originally indicating friendship, intimacy, but now suggesting a slight knowledge less deep than that of friendship; acquaintanceship.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person with whom you are acquainted
An 'acquaintance' is someone you know casually, but not well enough to call a friend. It implies less personal connection and intimacy than 'friend' or 'colleague'.
“I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where you'll really hear it
Social gatherings
“He's more of an acquaintance than a close friend.”
Casual conversation
“I ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store today.”
Professional networking
“It's good to have many professional acquaintances in your field.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use acquaintance
- “I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.