Acquaintance
[ə'kweɪnt(ə)ns] or [ə'kwentəns]
Definition
(noun.) personal knowledge or information about someone or something.
(noun.) a person with whom you are acquainted; 'I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances'; 'we are friends of the family'.
(noun.) a relationship less intimate than friendship.
Typist: Montague--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) 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.
(n.) A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
Edited by Bessie
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Familiarity, familiar knowledge.[2]. Friend (with whom one is not intimate).
Inputed by Betty
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Knowledge, intimacy, familiarity, experience, companionship
ANT:Ignorance, unfamiliarity, inexperience,{well_has_also_the_colloquial_meaning_of_a_person_with_whom_one_is_acquainted}
Typist: Nathaniel
Unserious Contents or Definition
To meet an acquaintance, and converse pleasantly with him, foretells that your business will run smoothly, and there will be but little discord in your domestic affairs. If you seem to be disputing, or engaged in loud talk, humiliations and embarrassments will whirl seethingly around you. If you feel ashamed of meeting an acquaintance, or meet him at an inopportune time, it denotes that you will be guilty of illicitly conducting yourself, and other parties will let the secret out. For a young woman to think that she has an extensive acquaintance, signifies that she will be the possessor of vast interests, and her love will be worthy the winning. If her circle of acquaintances is small, she will be unlucky in gaining social favors. After dreaming of acquaintances, you may see or hear from them.
Typist: Sol
Unserious Contents or Definition
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.
Editor: Yvonne
Examples
- He might have seen his old acquaintance Amelia on her way from Brompton to Russell Square, had he been looking out. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- It will then be publicly seen that, on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- I made the popularity of the subject a reason for going back to improve the acquaintance, and I have never since been the man I was. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- An acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Buthe added, you surely have not known me as an old acquaintance all this time, and never mentioned it. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Mrs. Elton is very good-natured and agreeable, and I dare say her acquaintance are just what they ought to be. Jane Austen. Emma.
- I soon fell into some acquaintance, and was very hospitably received. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Mrs. Cholmondeley, her friend, is an acquaintance of mine; thus I see her every Sunday. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I only wish I had the honour of being of her acquaintance. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I asked him if he was much in love with his new acquaintance. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- She will drop the acquaintance entirely. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- I am sorry, said Lady Dedlock to Mr. Jarndyce, that we are not likely to renew our former acquaintance. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Mr. Miller,' said Mr. Pickwick to his old acquaintance, the hard-headed gentleman, 'a glass of wine? Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- There was one person among his new acquaintance in Surry, not so leniently disposed. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began to laugh. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- His acquaintances thought him enviable to have so charming a wife, and nothing happened to shake their opinion. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He had many acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he loved. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to _me_ to have many such acquaintances. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- You might marry a professional man, or somebody of that sort, by going into the town to live and forming acquaintances there. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- How can he go about making acquaintances? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- At our time of life it is not so pleasant, I can tell you, to be making new acquaintances every day; but for your sakes, we would do anything. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- A perfect fury for making acquaintances on whom to impress their riches and importance, had seized the House of Dorrit. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- But I shall get away from people who have their own homes and their own children and their own acquaintances and their own this and their own that. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Mr. Yorke knew every one, and was known by every one, for miles round; yet his intimate acquaintances were very few. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Some of Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's acquaintances, however, acknowledged her readily enough,--perhaps more readily than she would have desired. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James Ralph; all lovers of reading. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- On this occasion the Secretary was accompanied by Governor Brough of Ohio, whom I had never met, though he and my father had been old acquaintances. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Becky's former acquaintances hated and envied her; the poor woman herself was yawning in spirit. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Mr. Hale had his own acquaintances among the working men, and was depressed with their earnestly told tales of suffering and long-endurance. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Your acquaintances and mine must be separate. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
Typed by Brian