Library / English Dictionary

ACQUAINT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inform

Example:

Please acquaint your colleagues of your plans to move

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "acquaint" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make familiar or conversant with

Example:

We familiarized ourselves with the new surroundings

Synonyms:

acquaint; familiarise; familiarize

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "acquaint" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Verb group:

acquaint; introduce; present (cause to come to know personally)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "acquaint"):

orient (familiarize (someone) with new surroundings or circumstances)

verse (familiarize through thorough study or experience)

get into (familiarize oneself thoroughly with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to come to know personally

Example:

introduce the new neighbors to the community

Synonyms:

acquaint; introduce; present

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "acquaint" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Verb group:

acquaint; familiarise; familiarize (make familiar or conversant with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "acquaint"):

re-introduce; reintroduce (introduce anew)

present (formally present a debutante, a representative of a country, etc.)

bring out; introduce (bring before the public for the first time, as of an actor, song, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

acquaintance (personal knowledge or information about someone or something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Mr. Eyre mentioned the intelligence; for he knew that my client here was acquainted with a gentleman of the name of Rochester.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She began by inquiring if they saw much of Mr. Willoughby at Cleveland, and whether they were intimately acquainted with him.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I determined to go without a guide, for I was well acquainted with the path, and the presence of another would destroy the solitary grandeur of the scene.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ruth's eyes roved to him frequently to see how he was getting on, and she was surprised and gladdened by the ease with which he got acquainted with her cousins.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They are well enough acquainted with the motions of those two luminaries, and understand the nature of eclipses; and this is the utmost progress of their astronomy.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Acquainted with knowledge of a subject.

(Informed, NCI Thesaurus)

That a man of the world, five-and-forty years of age, shrewd, honest, and acquainted with Courts, should be beguiled by such crude and coarse homage, amazed me, as it did all who knew him; but you who have seen much of life do not need to be told how often the strongest and noblest nature has its one inexplicable weakness, showing up the more obviously in contrast to the rest, as the dark stain looks the fouler upon the whitest sheet.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I must explain first,” said McFarlane, “that I knew nothing of Mr. Jonas Oldacre. His name was familiar to me, for many years ago my parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“I am glad to find,” he said, “Copperfield, that you and Miss Murdstone are already acquainted.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)