acquaintance

noun ac·quain·tance \ə-ˈkwān-t^ən(t)s\

: someone who is known but who is not a close friend

: the state of knowing someone in a personal or social way : the state of knowing someone as an acquaintance

: knowledge about something

Full Definition of ACQUAINTANCE

a : the state of being acquainted

b : personal knowledge : familiarity

a : the persons with whom one is acquainted <should auld acquaintance be forgot — Robert Burns>

b : a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend <a casual acquaintance>

— ac·quain·tance·ship \-ˌship\ noun

See acquaintance defined for English-language learners

See acquaintance defined for kids

But Francis later found out that the dinner acquaintance who sweet-talked him got a thank-you check for three thousand pounds. —Julian Barnes, New Yorker, 20 Sept. 1993
But all those qualities are so wrapped up in others that one could hardly ask for two men who are, at first acquaintance, more different. —Peter Garrison, Air & Space, October/November 1991
A classical education, or at any rate a very extensive acquaintance with English literature, ancient and modern, appears to me quite indispensable for the person who would do any just to your clergyman; and I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress. —Jane Austen, letter, 11 Dec. 1815
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