Idiom idiom
nodding acquaintance
Meaning
A casual or partial familiarity; a relationship which is not close or fully developed; an inexact understanding (of something).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“I have a nodding acquaintance with my neighbor.”
“I have a nodding acquaintance with the software, but I am not an expert yet.”
“Although he possessed a nodding acquaintance with the local customs, he remained largely an outsider to the community.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026