personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc.: a good acquaintance with French wines.
4.
(used with a plural verb) the persons with whom one is acquainted.
Also, ac·quaint·ance·ship (for defs. 2, 3).
Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English aqueinta(u)nce, acoyntaunce < Old French acointance.See acquaint, -ance
Related forms
non·ac·quaint·ance, noun
non·ac·quaint·ance·ship, noun
pre·ac·quaint·ance, noun
pseu·do·ac·quaint·ance, noun
re·ac·quaint·ance, noun
Synonyms 1.Acquaintance,associate,companion,friend refer to a person with whom one is in contact. An acquaintance is someone recognized by sight or someone known, though not intimately: a casual acquaintance. An associate is a person who is often in one's company, usually because of some work, enterprise, or pursuit in common: a business associate. A companion is a person who shares one's activities, fate, or condition: a traveling companion; companion in despair. A friend is a person with whom one is on intimate terms and for whom one feels a warm affection: a trusted friend. 3. familiarity, awareness.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
late 14c., "person with whom one is acquainted;" also "personal knowledge;" from O.Fr. acointance, noun of action from acointer (see acquaint). Acquaintant, 17c., would have been better in the "person known" sense, but is now obsolete.