acquaint

verb

ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt How to pronounce acquaint (audio)
acquainted; acquainting; acquaints

transitive verb

1
: to cause to know personally
was acquainted with the mayor
2
: to make familiar : to cause to know firsthand
acquainting the new employees with their responsibilities
She took a few days to acquaint herself with the facts of the case.
Choose the Right Synonym for acquaint

inform, acquaint, apprise, notify mean to make one aware of something.

inform implies the imparting of knowledge especially of facts or occurrences.

informed us of the crisis

acquaint lays stress on introducing to or familiarizing with.

acquaint yourself with the keyboard

apprise implies communicating something of special interest or importance.

keep us apprised of the situation

notify implies sending notice of something requiring attention or demanding action.

notified the witness when to appear

Examples of acquaint in a Sentence

This class is designed to acquaint students with the region's most important writers. Mr. King spent the first week of the summer internship acquainting everyone with the new computers.
Recent Examples on the Web Simultaneously, Woolsey and his then-wife Connie owned the San Marcos, Tex., club The Prairie Rose, where Woolsey first saw and became acquainted with Strait. Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2024 Active listening, observing and learning from their team is a critical entry point to getting acquainted with people, challenges, policies, procedures and the day-to-day efforts of a team. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 After printing, people can add their personal touch before either delivering or mailing the cards to local senior communities or someone with whom they are personally acquainted. Maeghan Dolph, Fox News, 10 Feb. 2024 While Chang gets his hands dirty at eateries like La Casita Mexicana and Pizzeria Bianco — getting acquainted with the culinary masterminds behind the Los Angeles hot spots — Teigen spearheads the conversation at the front-of-house with Booster and the celebrity guests. Ilana Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2024 The Bridesmaids star gushed over Billie Eilish and even revealed that they were acquainted before she was born. Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 25 Feb. 2024 Detectives were still learning specific details as to how the suspect and shooting victim were acquainted, Gonzalez said. Bill Lukitsch, Kansas City Star, 14 Feb. 2024 The visit is Lawson's first time becoming acquainted with the Queen City. The Enquirer, 1 Feb. 2024 Even in a three-point loss, the 3A school acquainted itself well against one of the best teams in 6A. Nelson was their high scorer in the defeat, scoring 16 points, according to azpreps365. The Arizona Republic, 8 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'acquaint.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acoynten, aqueynten, borrowed from Anglo-French acuinter, acointer, aqueinter, going back to Vulgar Latin *accognitāre, frequentative formation from the base of Latin accognōscere "to recognize," from ad- ad- + cognōscere "to get to know" — more at cognition, quaint

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of acquaint was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near acquaint

Cite this Entry

“Acquaint.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquaint. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

acquaint

verb
ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt How to pronounce acquaint (audio)
1
: to cause to know socially
became acquainted at school
2
: to cause to know firsthand : inform
acquaint her with her duties

More from Merriam-Webster on acquaint

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!