casual acquaintance
3
3.9
- noun
- /ˈkæʒuəl əˈkwɛɪntəns/
:
conocido
- It's hard to tell if he is a close friend or just a casual acquaintance.
- friends and casual acquaintances
- just a casual acquaintance
- even a casual acquaintance
Examples
-
Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office.
-
A casual acquaintance turns out to be a descendant of someone that I wrote about in the Trilogy.
Blog text (18) -
Are we good friends, or is she just a casual acquaintance?
-
The only thing I thought they could not be was casual acquaintances.
Fiction book (1998) -
If so, why do I have such a hard time getting beyond casual acquaintance with most white people?
Blog text (17) -
More or less a casual acquaintance, you'd say?
-
"We hear that kind of talk from friends and neighbors as well as from store clerks and casual acquaintances.
Academic text (2015) -
A choir director, members at church, workmates, and casual acquaintances are among them.
Blog text (14) -
A casual acquaintance once chastised my choice of a slice of pizza for lunch.
Fiction book (1996) -
We were casual acquaintances.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
114
3.5
A person you know slightly who is not a close friend
1
7.4
A person you know only a little and greet with a nod
Antonyms
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person known slightly but not a close friend' is directly and compositionally derived from 'casual' (informal/not close) modifying 'acquaintance' (someone known but not a friend). This adjective+noun pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Casual acquaintance comes from the simple image of meeting someone by chance, like a short chat at the gym or coffee shop. casual shows the meeting is light and not planned, and acquaintance means someone you know a little, so the phrase means 'not a close friend'.