- [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.
Extra ExamplesTopics Family and relationshipsb2- He was greeted as an old acquaintance.
- I bumped into a casual acquaintance in town.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- casual
- new
- close
- …
- bump into
- meet
- run into
- …
- friends and acquaintances
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- [uncountable, countable] acquaintance (with somebody) (formal) slight friendship
- He hoped their acquaintance would develop further.
- a man with whom I had a passing acquaintance
- I first met Simon in 2008 and struck up an acquaintance with him.
- [uncountable, countable] acquaintance with something (formal) knowledge of something
- I had little acquaintance with modern poetry.
Extra Examples- her acquaintance with modern French philosophy
- They have little acquaintance with colloquial English.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- nodding
- passing
- slight
- …
- make somebody’s/something’s
- strike up
- renew
- …
- of somebody’s acquaintance
- acquaintance with
- have an acquaintance with
- on close acquaintance
- on closer acquaintance
- …
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’.
Idioms
See acquaintance in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryhave a nodding acquaintance with somebody/something
- to only know somebody/something slightly
make somebody’s acquaintance | make the acquaintance of somebody
- (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.
- I first made his acquaintance in 1992.
of your acquaintance
- (formal) that you know
- No one else of my acquaintance was as rich or successful.
- He introduced me to a lady of his acquaintance.
on first acquaintance
- (formal) when you first meet somebody
- Even on first acquaintance it was clear that he was not ‘the right type’.
- On first acquaintance she seemed a little odd.
Check pronunciation:
acquaintance