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Accomplice vs Acquaintance - What's the difference?

accomplice | acquaintance |

As nouns the difference between accomplice and acquaintance

is that accomplice is a cooperator while acquaintance is a state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy.

accomplice

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (rare) A cooperator.
  • * Success unto our valiant general, And happiness to his accomplices ! - Shakespeare, Henry VI Part I, V-ii
  • (legal) An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory.
  • * And thou, the cursed accomplice of his treason. - Johnson
  • * Suspected for accomplice to the fire. -

    • Usage notes

    * Followed by with'' or ''of'' before a person and by ''in'' (or sometimes ''of'') before the crime; as, A was an ''accomplice'' with B in the murder of C. Dryden uses it with ''to before a thing.

    Synonyms

    * abettor, accessory, assistant, associate, confederate, coadjutor, ally, promoter; see abettor.

    acquaintance

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Alternative forms

    * acquaintaunce

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (uncountable) A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy
    • I know of the man; but have no acquaintance with him.
  • * 1799 , '', 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.
  • (countable) A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
  • * 1848 , , Chapter XVI:
    • Montgomery was an old acquaintance of Ferguson.

    Usage notes

    * Synonym notes: The words acquaintance , familiarity, and intimacy mark different degrees of closeness in social intercourse. Acquaintance arises from occasional intercourse; 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

    Derived terms

    * nodding acquaintance

    Related terms

    * acquaint

    References

    * *