different between notice vs acquaintance

English

Alternative forms

• not. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French notice, from the Latin notitia.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n??t?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?no?t?s/, [?no???s]
• Hyphenation: no?tice

Noun

notice (countable and uncountable, plural notices)

1. (chiefly uncountable) The act of observing; perception.
   • How ready is envy to mingle with the notices which we take of other persons?

2. (countable) A written or printed announcement.

3. (countable) A formal notification or warning.

5. (chiefly uncountable) Advance notification of termination of employment, given by an employer to an employee or vice versa.

6. (countable) A published critical review of a play or the like.
   • 1989, The New York Times Theater Reviews, 1920- (volume 18, page 167)

     The first-night audience, yes. The first-night reviewers, not exactly. The notices have so far been mixed, only The Financial Times having delivered itself of an unequivocal rave.

7. (uncountable) Prior notification.
8. (dated) Attention; respectful treatment; civility.

Synonyms

• (attention): heed, regard; see also Thesaurus:attention

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

notice (third-person singular simple present notices, present participle noticing, simple past and past participle noticed)

1. (transitive, now rare) To remark upon; to mention. [from 17th c.]
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Penguin 2004, p. 88:

     Numberless are the arguments […] that men have used morally and physically, to degrade the sex. I must notice a few.

2. (transitive) To become aware of; to observe. [from 17th c.]
   • 1991, Gregory Widen, Backdraft

     So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?

3. (obsolete, transitive) To lavish attention upon; to treat (someone) favourably. [17th–19th c.]
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, vol. I, ch. 3

     She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners.

4. (intransitive) To be noticeable; to show. [from 20th c.]
   • 1954, Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead, Dorothy 2010, p. 9:

     The blackness didn't notice so much when she was born; but it's unmistakeable now.

Synonyms

• recognize

Antonyms

• ignore
• neglect

Translations

Anagrams

• conite, ecotin, neotic, noetic

French

Etymology

From Latin notitia

Noun

notice f (plural notices)

1. instruction

   Avez-vous lu la notice avant de monter le meuble?

Further reading

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

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