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

For those who already love and want to celebrate Hackman, as well as those who want to get acquainted with his work, here are six of his best films and where to watch them. —Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 27 Feb. 2025

Porky Pig and Daffy Duck are getting acquainted with extraterrestrials. —Jen Juneau, People.com, 18 Feb. 2025

This relationship has continued with Linklater’s films Suburbia and Before Midnight, and the distributor is also well acquainted with Hawke, having put out his films Before Midnight, Maggie’s Plan, Maudie, and most recently, Strange Way of Life from Pedro Almodóvar. —Zac Ntim, Deadline, 18 Feb. 2025

The annual Art Directors Guild Awards celebrate not just the names with which cinephiles are well acquainted, the Jack Fisks and Catherine Martins, but the people who bring those designs to life on everything from blockbusters to game shows. —Mark Peikert, IndieWire, 15 Feb. 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