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more about acquaintance
acquaintance |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Acquaintance \Ac*quaint"ance\, n. [OE. aqueintance OF acointance fr acointier See {Acquaint}.] 1. A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy; as I know the man; but have no acquaintance with him Contract no friendship, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man. --Sir W. Jones. 2. A person or persons with whom one is acquainted. Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson. --Macaulay. Note: In this sense the collective term acquaintance was formerly both singular and plural, but it is now commonly singular, and has the regular plural acquaintances. {To be of acquaintance}, to be intimate. {To take acquaintance of} or {with}, to make the acquaintance of [Obs.] Syn: Familiarity; intimacy; fellowship; knowledge. Usage: {Acquaintance}, {Familiarity}, {Intimacy}. These words mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse; as our acquaintance has been a brief one We can speak of a slight or an intimate acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve; as the familiarity of old companions. Intimacy is the result of close connection, and the freest interchange of thought; as the intimacy of established friendship. Our admiration of a famous man lessens upon our nearer acquaintance with him --Addison. We contract at last such a familiarity with them as makes it difficult and irksome for us to call off our minds. --Atterbury. It is in our power to confine our friendships and intimacies to men of virtue. --Rogers. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: acquaintance n 1: personal knowledge or information about someone or something [syn: {familiarity}, {conversance}, {conversancy}] 2: a relationship less intimate than friendship [syn: {acquaintanceship}] 3: a person with whom you are acquainted; "I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances"; "we are friends of the family" [syn: {friend}] From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: ACQUAINTANCE, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from but not well enough to lend to A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.
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