intimate
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin intimare (“to put or bring into, to impress, to make familiar”), from intimus (“inmost, innermost, most intimate”), superlative of intus (“within”), from in (“in”); see interior.
PronunciationEdit
Adjective, noun
Verb
AdjectiveEdit
intimate (comparative more intimate, superlative most intimate)
- Closely acquainted; familiar.
- an intimate friend
- He and his sister deeply valued their intimate relationship as they didn't have much else to live for.
- Of or involved in a sexual relationship.
- She enjoyed some intimate time alone with her husband.
- Personal; private.
- an intimate setting
- Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know.
- 2015, Slawomir Pikula, Joanna Bandorowicz-Pikula, Patrick Groves, “NMR of lipids”, in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, volume 44, Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, ISSN 0305-9804, page 391:
- Grélard et al.87 determined the intimate structure of pseudoviral particles of hepatitis B subvirus using solid-state NMR, light scattering, and cryo-electron microscopy.
TranslationsEdit
closely acquainted; familiar
of or involved in a sexual relationship
personal, private
NounEdit
intimate (plural intimates)
- A very close friend.
- Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.
- (in plural intimates) Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store.
- You'll find bras and panties in the women's intimates section upstairs.
SynonymsEdit
- (close friend): bosom buddy, bosom friend, cater-cousin
TranslationsEdit
very close friend
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intimates: women's underwear, sleepwear or lingerie
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VerbEdit
intimate (third-person singular simple present intimates, present participle intimating, simple past and past participle intimated)
- (transitive, intransitive) To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly.
- 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 4, Chapter 3. TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN MISTAKES FIRST”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People[1], page 223:
- The Kaiser beamed. Von Bulow had praised him. Von Bulow had exalted him and humbled himself. The Kaiser could forgive anything after that. "Haven't I always told you," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "that we complete one another famously? We should stick together, and we will!"
[...]
Von Bulow saved himself in time—but, canny diplomat that he was, he nevertheless had made one error: he should have begun by talking about his own shortcomings and Wilhelm's superiority—not by intimating that the Kaiser was a half-wit in need of a guardian.
- The Kaiser beamed. Von Bulow had praised him. Von Bulow had exalted him and humbled himself. The Kaiser could forgive anything after that. "Haven't I always told you," he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "that we complete one another famously? We should stick together, and we will!"
- He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.
- (transitive, India) To notify.
- I will intimate you when the details are available.
TranslationsEdit
To suggest or disclose discreetly
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- intimate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- intimate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
AnagramsEdit
EsperantoEdit
ItalianEdit
VerbEdit
intimate
- second-person plural present indicative of intimare
- second-person plural imperative of intimare
- feminine plural of intimato