different between acquaintance vs acquaintanceship

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman aquaintaunce, aqueintance, Old French acointance (“friendship, familiarity”), from Old French acointer (“to acquaint”). Compare French accointance.

Morphologically acquaint +? -ance.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??kwe?nt?ns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??kwe?n.t?ns/

Noun

acquaintance (countable and uncountable, plural acquaintances)

1. (uncountable) A state of being acquainted with a person; originally indicating friendship, intimacy, but now suggesting a slight knowledge less deep than that of friendship; acquaintanceship. [from 12th c.]

   I know of the man; but have no acquaintance with him.

   • 1799, William Jones (translator), Hito'pade'sa, in The Works, Volume 6, page 22:

     Contract no friend?hip, or even acquaintance, with a guileful man : he re?embles a coal, which when hot burneth the hand, and when cold blacketh it.

2. (countable) A person or persons with whom one is acquainted. [from 14th c.]
3. (uncountable) Such people collectively; one's circle of acquaintances (with plural concord). [from 15th c.]
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Penguin 2004, p. 230:

     Their mother […] was busy in the mean time in keeping up her connections, as she termed a numerous acquaintance, lest her girls should want a proper introduction into the great world.

4. Personal knowledge (with a specific subject etc.). [from 16th c.]

Usage notes

• Synonym notes: The words acquaintance, familiarity, and intimacy now mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse or interaction; as, "our acquaintance has been a brief one". We can speak of a slight or an intimate acquaintance. Familiarity is the result of continued acquaintance. It springs from persons being frequently together, so as to wear off all restraint and reserve; as, "the familiarity of old companions". Intimacy is the result of close connection, and the freest interchange of thought; as, "the intimacy of established friendship".

Synonyms

• familiarity, fellowship, intimacy, knowledge
• See also Thesaurus:acquaintance

Derived terms

• nodding acquaintance
• renew acquaintances

Related terms

• acquaint

Translations

References

• acquaintance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• acquaintance at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From acquaintance +? -ship.

Noun

acquaintanceship (usually uncountable, plural acquaintanceships)

1. (uncountable) The state of being acquainted.

   Synonym: acquaintance

   • 1640, John Day, The Knave in Graine, New Vampt, London, Act III, Scene 1,^[1]

     What, eschew acquaintanceship? forget, After my most hearty commendations, my very trusty friend, ’Twere sin and shame Tomaso.

   • 1889, Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead (translator), The Libation-Bearers, in The House of Atreus, page 114

     To host and hostess thus with fortune blest,
     Lief had I come with better news to bear
     Unto your greeting and acquaintanceship;

   • 1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of the Island, Chapter 5,^[2]

     Without effort, she took them with her into her ever widening circle of acquaintanceship, and the two Avonlea girls found their social pathway at Redmond made very easy and pleasant for them […]

   • 1971, E. M. Forster, Maurice, Penguin, 1972, Chapter 33, p. 143,^[3]

     When they talked down the telephone he heard a man whom he might respect at the other end of it — a fellow who sounded willing to let bygones be bygones and passion acquaintanceship.

2. (countable) A relationship as acquaintances.
   • 1753, George Wollaston, The Life and History of a Pilgrim, Dublin, Book 2, p. 137,^[4]

     They began their acquaintanceship very lovingly, and after a shake or two by the hand, Bell gave him a more particular account of the uses and sanctity of his office […]

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, London: Constable, Chapter 4, p. 42,^[5]

     I have already spoken to them through my window to begin an acquaintanceship.

   • 1905, William John Locke, The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne, Part 2, Chapter 21,^[6]

     A growing distaste for the forced acquaintanceships of travel and a craving for home brought me back.

   • 1979, Patrick White, The Twyborn Affair, Penguin, 1981, Part 2, pp. 133-134,^[7]

     It was an acquaintanceship formed partly out of boredom, partly for mutual protection […]

   • 2013, Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Part 2, Chapter 15,^[8]

     […] because she felt a strange freedom—even a security—in having decided that no acquaintanceship could end in anything untoward, she felt emboldened to sometimes do and say such things to men […]

Related terms

• acquaint
• acquaintance
• acquainted
• unacquainted

Translations