different between intimate vs familar

English

Etymology

From Latin intimare (“to put or bring into, to impress, to make familiar”), from intimus (“inmost, innermost, most intimate”), superlative of intus (“within”), from in (“in”); see interior.

Pronunciation

Adjective, noun

• enPR: ?n't?m?t, IPA^(key): /??n.t?.m?t/

Verb

• enPR: ?n't?m?t, IPA^(key): /??n.t?.me?t/

Adjective

intimate (comparative more intimate, superlative most intimate)

1. Closely acquainted; familiar.

   an intimate friend

   He and his sister deeply valued their intimate relationship as they didn't have much else to live for.

2. Of or involved in a sexual relationship.

   She enjoyed some intimate time alone with her husband.

3. Personal; private.

   an intimate setting

4. Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know.

Translations

Noun

intimate (plural intimates)

1. A very close friend.

   Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.

2. (in plural intimates) Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store.

   You'll find bras and panties in the women's intimates section upstairs.

Synonyms

• (close friend): bosom buddy, bosom friend, cater-cousin

Translations

Verb

intimate (third-person singular simple present intimates, present participle intimating, simple past and past participle intimated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly.

   •     The Kaiser beamed. Von Bulow had praised him. Von Bulow had exalted him and humbled himself. The Kaiser could forgive anything after that. "Haven't I always told you," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "that we complete one another famously? We should stick together, and we will!"
         [...]
         Von Bulow saved himself in time—but, canny diplomat that he was, he nevertheless had made one error: he should have begun by talking about his own shortcomings and Wilhelm's superiority—not by intimating that the Kaiser was a half-wit in need of a guardian.

   He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.

2. (transitive, India) To notify.

   I will intimate you when the details are available.

Translations

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimation

Further reading

• intimate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• intimate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• antitime

Esperanto

Adverb

intimate

1. present adverbial passive participle of intimi

Italian

Verb

intimate

1. second-person plural present indicative of intimare
2. second-person plural imperative of intimare
3. feminine plural of intimato

Anagrams

• imitante

Latin

Verb

intim?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of intim?

English

Adjective

familar

1. Misspelling of familiar.