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Acquaintance vs Relative - What's the difference?

acquaintance | relative |

As nouns the difference between acquaintance and relative

is that 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 while relative is someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.

As an adjective relative is

connected to or depending on something else; comparative.

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

    References

    * *

    relative

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.
  • * 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “ Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:
  • For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.
  • Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.
  • ''The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http&
  • x3A;//example.com/docs/pic.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.
  • (grammar) That relates to an antecedent.
  • (music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.
  • Relevant; pertinent; related.
  • relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...
  • Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.
  • Synonyms

    * comparative * conditional * limited

    Antonyms

    * absolute * unlimited

    Derived terms

    * relative to

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone in the same family; someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption.
  • Why do my relatives always talk about sex?
  • (linguistics) A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * aunt * brother * cousin * father * godparent * grandchild * granddaughter * grandson * great-grandchild * great-grandparent * in-law * mother * niece * nephew * parent * refer * referral * sister * stepdaughter * stepson * uncle

    Anagrams

    * ----