Intimate

Pronunciation

• enPR: Ä­n'tÄ­mÉ™t, IPA: /ˈɪn.tɪ.mÉ™t/

• enPR: Ä­n'tÄ­māt, IPA: /ˈɪn.tɪ.meɪt/

Origin

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.

Full definition of intimate

Adjective

1. Closely acquainted; familiar.an intimate friendHe and his sister deeply valued their intimate relationship as they didn't have much else to live for.
2. Of or involved in a sexual relationship.She enjoyed some intimate time alone with her husband.
3. Personal, private.an intimate setting

Noun

1. A very close friend.Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.
2. (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.

Synonyms

• (close friend) bosom buddy, bosom friend, cater-cousin

Verb

1. (transitive) To suggest or disclose discreetly.
• 1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People Chapter Part 4, Chapter 3. TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN MISTAKES FIRST    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.
2. He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimation