different between connection vs intimacy

English

Alternative forms

• connexion (UK, dated), connex. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English conneccioun, connexioun, conneccyon, conneccion, from Latin connexionem (nominative connexio (“a conclusion, binding together”)), from connect?, an alternative spelling of c?nect? (“I bind together”), from compound of co- (“together”) and nect? (“I bind”)

In American English mid-18c., spelling shifted from connexion to connection (equivalent to connect +? -ion), thus making connexion British dated and connection in international use.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??n?k??n/
• Rhymes: -?k??n

Noun

connection (countable and uncountable, plural connections)

1. (uncountable) The act of connecting.
2. The point at which two or more things are connected.

   the connection between overeating and obesity

   My headache has no connection with me going out last night.
3. A feeling of understanding and ease of communication between two or more people.

   As we were the only people in the room to laugh at the joke, I felt a connection between us.

4. An established communications or transportation link.

   computers linked by a network connection

   I was talking to him, but there was lightning and we lost the connection.

5. (transport) A transfer from one transportation vehicle to another in scheduled transportation service

   The bus was late so he missed his connection at Penn Station and had to wait six hours for the next train.

6. A kinship relationship between people.
7. An individual who is related to oneself, through either family or business.

   I have some connections in Lancashire.

8. (mathematics) A set of sets that contains the empty set, all one-element sets for any element that is included in any of the sets, and the union of any group of sets that are elements where the intersections of those sets is non-empty.
9. coherence; lack of disjointedness
10. (religion) The description for a Methodist denomination as a whole, as opposed to its constituent churches, circuits, districts and conferences.
11. sexual intercourse

Translations

English

Etymology

intimate +? -cy

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.t?.m?.si/

Noun

intimacy (countable and uncountable, plural intimacies)

1. (uncountable, countable) Feeling or atmosphere of closeness and openness towards someone else, not necessarily involving sexuality.
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Section 13.6^[1]

     To adulterous lust the most sacred duties are sacrificed, because, before marriage, men, by a promiscuous intimacy with women, learned to consider love as a selfish gratification—learned to separate it not only from esteem, but from the affection merely built on habit, which mixes a little humanity with it.

   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Truth of Intercourse” in Essays, English and American, The Harvard Classics, Volume 28, edited by Charles W. Eliot, New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, p. 287,^[2]

     The habitual liar may be a very honest fellow, and live truly with his wife and friends; while another man who never told a formal falsehood in his life may yet be himself one lie—heart and face, from top to bottom. This is the kind of lie which poisons intimacy.

   • 1908, Jack London, “To Build a Fire” in Lost Face, London: Mills & Boon, 1916,^[3]

     […] there was keen intimacy between the dog and the man.
2. (countable) Intimate relationship.
   • 1787, Robert Burns, Letter to Dr. Moore, 23 April, 1787, in J. Logie Robertson (ed.), The Letters of Robert Burns, Selected and Arranged, with an Introduction, London: Walter Scott, 1887, p. 57,^[5]

     I have formed many intimacies and friendships here, but I am afraid they are all of too tender a construction to bear carriage a hundred and fifty miles.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 8,^[6]

     “I have always thought it a very foolish intimacy,” said Mr. Knightley presently, “though I have kept my thoughts to myself; but I now perceive that it will be a very unfortunate one for Harriet […] ”

   • 1899, Henry James, The Awkward Age, Book One, Chapter 2,^[7]

     “ […] it isn’t my notion of the way to bring up a girl to give her up, in extreme youth, to an intimacy with a young married woman who’s both unhappy and silly, whose conversation has absolutely no limits, who says everything that comes into her head and talks to the poor child about God only knows what […] ”

3. (countable, especially plural) Intimate detail, (item of) intimate information.
   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, 2001, Part One, Chapter 4,

     He recognized the tone as the one used by friendly sisters to discuss the infirmities of their husbands. It was Shama’s plea to a sister to exchange intimacies, to show support.

Antonyms

• solitude

Related terms

• intimate
• intimation

Translations

Anagrams

• imitancy, minacity