different between acquaintance vs consort

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

Borrowed from Middle French, ultimately from Latin c?nsors.

Pronunciation

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?n'sôt, IPA^(key): /?k?ns??t/
  • (General American) enPR: kän'sôrt, IPA^(key): /?k?ns??t/
• (verb)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?nsôt', IPA^(key): /k?n?s??t/
  • (General American) enPR: k?nsôrt', IPA^(key): /k?n?s??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Noun

consort (countable and uncountable, plural consorts)

1. The spouse of a monarch.

   • The consort of the queen has passed from this troubled sphere.

2. A husband, wife, companion or partner.
   • 1863, William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers
   • 1838, Charles Darwin, The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle

     the snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort

3. (euphemistic, sometimes humorous) An informal, usually well-publicized sexual companion of a monarch; aristocrat; celebrity; etc.
4. A ship accompanying another.
5. (uncountable) Association or partnership.
   • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to some Considerations, the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation

     Take it singly, and it carries an air of levity; […] but, in consort with the rest, you see, has a meaning quite different.

6. A group or company, especially of musicians playing the same type of instrument.
   • 1633, George Herbert, Employment

     Lord, place me in thy consort.

7. (obsolete) Harmony of sounds; concert, as of musical instruments.
   • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Astrophel: A Pastorall Elegy upon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney

     To make a sad consort, / Come, let us join our mournful song with theirs.

Synonyms

• (husband, wife, companion, partner): Thesaurus:spouse, companion, escort
• (association, partnership): association, partnership
• (group of musicians): band, group

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

consort (not comparable)

2. (postpositive) of a title, by virtue of one's (living) spouse; often contrasted with regnant and dowager

   Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother took on nearly as many duties as queen dowager, after her husband's death, as she had had when she was queen consort during his reign.

Derived terms

• queen consort
• king consort
• prince consort

See also

• regnant
• queen regnant
• queen dowager

Verb

consort (third-person singular simple present consorts, present participle consorting, simple past and past participle consorted)

1. (intransitive) To associate or keep company (with).
   • 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:

     If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.

   • 1961, J. A. Philip, "Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, vol. 92, p. 457,

     Being itself inferior and consorting with an inferior faculty it begets inferior offspring.

2. (intransitive) To be in agreement.

Synonyms

• (associate or keep company): hang out (slang)
• (be in agreement): agree, concur
• (associate or unite in company with): associate, hang out (slang)

Translations

Anagrams

• Croston, Scorton, cortons, crotons

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin consors.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kon?s??t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kun?s?rt/
• Rhymes: -??t

Noun

consort m or f (plural consorts)

1. partner, consort
2. (law) spouse

   Synonym: cònjuge

3. (law) accomplice

   Synonym: partícip

4. (law) joinder

   Synonym: litisconsort

Derived terms

• litisconsort

Related terms

• consorci

Further reading

• “consort” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “consort” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “consort” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin consors, consortem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.s??/

Noun

consort f (plural consorts)

1. consort
2. (plural only, preceded by et, slightly derogatory) minions, associates; the likes

Further reading

• “consort” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology

From French consort, from Latin consors.

Noun

consort m (plural consor?i)

1. consort

Declension