acquaint

verb

ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt 

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.

Synonyms

• accustom
• familiarize
• initiate
• introduce
• orient
• orientate

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

Here are the Star Wars locales, both new and familiar, to get acquainted with this season. endings 8:00 a.m. —Joe Reid, Vulture, 22 Apr. 2025

The exhibition features an original soundscape by musical composer Omar Zubair, who Tracy was acquainted with. —Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025

Readers acquainted with the mixed lyricism and sarcasm of the Communist Manifesto or Marx’s inflamed journalism on the events of his day may be surprised by the desiccated laying out of concepts and dispassionate tone of Capital. —Benjamin Kunkel, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025

He's polished his six-string skills to the point of near-mastery and acquainted himself with a wide variety of genres—everything from gospel and soul to classic rock-and-roll. —William Lambers, Newsweek, 9 Mar. 2025

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

Phrases Containing acquaint

• acquaint oneself with

Rhymes for acquaint

• complaint
• constraint
• distraint
• enceinte
• repaint
• restraint
• faint
• feint
• maint
• paint
• plaint
• quaint

Kids Definition

acquaint

verb

ac·​quaint ə-ˈkwānt 

1

: to cause to know socially

became acquainted at school

2

: to cause to know firsthand : inform

acquaint her with her duties