intimate
adjectivenounverbcommon in dialogue
- //ˈɪn.tɪ.mət//
- //ˈɪn.tɪ.meɪt//
Closely acquainted; familiar.
adjective
- 1
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.
WE are such intimate friends that more than almost anyone else you can appreciate the grief as well as the actual public and private loss that the death of my cousin Lucius is to me.
- 2
Personal; private.
an intimate setting
- 3
Pertaining to sex organs or underwear.
Intimate apparel departments have separate sections for bras and panties; within those sections, our intimate apparel firm would have its bras displayed separately from its panties.
- 4
Pertaining to sexual acts or a sexual relationship.
She enjoyed some intimate time alone with her husband.
The man, who had been arrested for being intimate with a donkey, admitted the conduct in question but claimed that the donkey had not been a donkey when he met her at a nightclub last Saturday night, but rather a prostitute.
- 5
Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know.
The candidate showed an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of politics.
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.
Harry and David spent most of their childhood outside, developing an intimate knowledge of the animals, waterways, and plant life of Mid Wales.
- 6
Very finely mixed.
Black powder consists of an intimate mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin intimātus, the perfect passive participle of intimō (“to put or bring into, to impress, to make familiar”) (see -ate (adjective forming suffix)), from intimus (“inmost, innermost, most intimate”), superlative of intus (“within”), from in (“in”); see interior.
noun
- 1
A very close friend.
Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.
- 2
Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store.
You'll find bras and panties in the intimates section upstairs.
Etymology
From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
verb
- 1
To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly.
He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.
And ſince this Family, called Ciu, which now holdeth the Souereigntie, hath reigned, it is called Min [translating 明 (Míng)], which intimateth Splendour, and by vſuall addition of one ſyllable Ta-min [translating 大明 (Dàmíng)], that is, the Kingdome of Great Splendour, Brightneſſe or Glory.
One of our friends, nevertheless—the younger one—intimated that he felt a disposition to interrupt a few of these soft familiarities; but his companion observed, pertinently enough, that he had better be careful.
[…]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.
- 2
To notify.
I will intimate you when the details are available.
Etymology
From Latin intimātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French intimer.
Forms
- plural
- intimates
- comparative
- more intimate
- superlative
- most intimate
- past tense
- intimated
- past participle
- intimated
- present participle
- intimating
- third person singular
- intimates