to be intimate
16
7.9
- phrasal verb
- /bi ˈɪntɪmət/
- NSFW
:
tener relaciones sexuales (con)
- I didn't think I was gonna be intimate this weekend.
- have ever been intimate
- want to be intimate
So she, she couldn't be intimate unless she was stone cold drunk.
- So she, she couldn't be intimate unless she was stone cold drunk.
- We also know that you're desire to be intimate with your partner has increased.
- Being so tall, so different, though, didn't keep her from being intimate with the French.
- I believe they waited for marriage to to be intimate.
- And Chris revealed on national television that when it comes to being intimate, he prefers to have sex in the morning.
- Alcohol and sex became so tightly fused for me that I would feel so strange to try and even be intimate with someone without it.
- It's kind of like a comfort, tactile comfort because it's like, you know, I don't have any male in my life to be intimate with.
- And I would say that like I have a very hard time being intimate in any way because I don't even like want to feel my own body.
Examples
-
That's not the kind of guy I want to be intimate with.
Blog text (12) -
He felt nervous about being intimate for the first time with someone he truly liked.
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That you would like to be intimate with me?
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You were intimate with both of them.
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My dear, we were intimate.
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I wanted to be intimate with them
Fiction book (1992) -
When you're being intimate with somebody, are you, are you a lights on or off kind of person?
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If she really, really wants to be intimate with him, why doesn't she?
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There are other ways of being intimate that people don't even realize.
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You have little energy or desire to cuddle, snuggle, or be intimate with your spouse.
Blog text (7)
Synonyms
∞
9.9
To have sex with someone
∞
3.0
To touch each other's private parts for physical pleasure
999
9.8
To have sex with someone
698
8.6
To have sex with another person
675
9.9
To have sex with someone
652
7.4
To have sex with someone
296
5.3
Have sex with someone you love or care about
205
9.9
To have sex with someone, said as a rude word
125
9.3
To have sex with someone
122
9.9
To have sex with someone
95
9.9
To have sex with someone, usually in a short, casual way
69
7.4
Have sex with another person, often when not married
58
9.9
To have sex with someone, used as a rude word
23
8.1
To have sex with someone
12
9.0
To have sex with someone
6
9.1
To have sex with someone
5
5.1
To have physical contact with someone for pleasure, usually in a casual way
2
9.9
To have sex with someone
2
9.9
To have sex with someone
1
9.9
To have sex with someone
1
9.9
To have sex with someone, used in informal British English
1
9.9
To have sex with someone
To have sex with someone
To have sex with someone
To have sex briefly in a casual way
How Intimate
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to have sexual intercourse' is partly derivable from combining 'be' with 'intimate' (which signals private/sexual matters), so a learner would understand being in an 'intimate' state. However, the exact interpretation is euphemistic and context-dependent (emotional closeness vs. sexual intercourse), so the specific sexual meaning is not fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Be intimate comes from the idea of being very close and private with someone — imagine two people sitting close, whispering and sharing secrets. So to be intimate is often used as a gentle way to say 'have sex' because the private, close feeling suggests physical closeness.