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intimate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Pronunciation

Adjective, noun

  • enPR: ĭn'tĭmət, IPA(key): /ˈɪn.tɪ.mət/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Verb

Etymology 1

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.

Adjective

intimate (comparative more intimate, superlative most intimate)

  1. Closely acquainted; familiar.
    Synonym: thick (informal)
    an intimate friend
    He 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.
    • 2011 October 28, Kevin Underhill, “Shape-Shifting Donkey Prostitute Strikes Again”, in Lowering the Bar‎, archived from the original on 16 December 2022:
      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.
  3. Personal; private.
    an intimate setting
  4. Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know
    The candidate showed an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of politics.
    • 2015, Slawomir Pikula, Joanna Bandorowicz-Pikula, Patrick Groves, “NMR of lipids”, in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, volume 44, Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISSN, 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.
  5. Very finely mixed.
    Black powder consists of an intimate mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Noun

intimate (plural intimates)

  1. A very close friend.
    Synonyms: bosom buddy, bosom friend, cater-cousin
    Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.
  2. (in the plural intimates) Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store.
    Synonym: intimate apparel
    You'll find bras and panties in the intimates section upstairs.
Translations

Etymology 3

From Latin intimātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French intimer.

Verb

intimate (third-person singular simple present intimates, present participle intimating, simple past and past participle intimated)

  1. (ambitransitive) To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly.
    Synonym: hint
    He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.
    • 1878, Henry James, An International Episode‎:
      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.
    • 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Talk about your own mistakes first”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 223:
      […] 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.
    • 2025 August 7, Jonathan Lemire, “Things Aren’t Going Donald Trump’s Way”, in The Atlantic‎:
      He feels deeply betrayed by his MAGA supporters who believed him when he intimated during the campaign that something was nefarious about the government’s handling of the [Epstein] case, and who now have a hard time believing him when he says their suspicions are actually bogus.
  2. (transitive, India) To notify.
    I will intimate you when the details are available.
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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Esperanto

Adverb

intimate

  1. present adverbial passive participle of intimi

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

intimate

  1. inflection of intimare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

intimate f pl

  1. feminine plural of intimato

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

intimāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of intimō

Spanish

Verb

intimate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of intimar combined with te

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