Oxford Dictionary English

    acquaintance

    noun
    noun
    BrE BrE//əˈkweɪntəns//
    ; NAmE NAmE//əˈkweɪntəns//
    Friends
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  1. 1[countable] a person that you know but who is not a close friend Claire has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. He's just a business acquaintance. I bumped into an old acquaintance on the train. Wordfinderfriendacquaintance, bond, buddy, companion, comrade, friend, mate, neighbour, platonic, playmate Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivecasual, new, close, … verb + acquaintancebump into, meet, run into, … phrasesfriends and acquaintances See full entry See related entries: Friends
  2. 2[uncountable, countable] acquaintance (with somebody) (formal) slight friendship He hoped their acquaintance would develop further.
  3. 3[uncountable, countable] acquaintance with something (formal) knowledge of something I had little acquaintance with modern poetry. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivenodding, passing, slight, … verb + acquaintancemake somebody’s/​something’s, strike up, renew, … prepositionof somebody’s acquaintance, acquaintance with phraseshave an acquaintance with, on close acquaintance, on closer acquaintance, … See full entry
    4.  Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘mutual knowledge, being acquainted’): from Old French acointance, from acointier ‘make known’, from late Latin accognitare, from Latin accognoscere, from ad- ‘to’ + cognoscere ‘come to know’.Extra examples He introduced me to a lady of his acquaintance. He was greeted as an old acquaintance. I bumped into a casual acquaintance in town. I first made his acquaintance in 1992. I first met Simon in 1998 and struck up an acquaintance with him. On first acquaintance she seemed a little odd. They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. a man with whom I had a passing acquaintance her acquaintance with modern French philosophy Claire has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. I don’t know him socially, he’s just a business acquaintance. I’m delighted to make your acquaintance, Mrs Baker. No one else of my acquaintance was as rich and successful.Idioms
    have a nodding acquaintance with somebody/something
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    to only know somebody/something slightly
    make somebody’s acquaintance, make the acquaintance of somebody
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    (formal) to meet somebody for the first time I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mrs Baker. I made the acquaintance of several musicians around that time.
    of your acquaintance
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    (formal) that you know No one else of my acquaintance was as rich or successful.
    on first acquaintance
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    (formal) when you first meet somebody Even on first acquaintance it was clear that he was not ‘the right type’.
See acquaintance in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Check pronunciation: acquaintance
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