intimacy
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a feeling of being very close to someone and being able to share your private thoughts with them.
a state of close emotional connection and mutual understanding between individuals.
Simple“The long walk by the lake allowed for a rare moment of intimacy between the two friends.”
In context“True emotional intimacy requires a level of vulnerability that many people find difficult to achieve even in long-term partnerships.”
Antonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a close romantic or sexual relationship with another person.
the state of being in a private, often sexual or romantic, relationship.
Simple“They struggled to maintain their intimacy while working in different cities.”
In context“The film explores the complexities of physical intimacy and how it evolves over decades of marriage.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
private or personal details about someone's life.
private or personal information, often shared in confidence. Usually used in the plural form.
Simple“After a few glasses of wine, they began to share the small intimacies of their childhoods.”
In context“The biographer was criticised for revealing the private intimacies of the poet's life without the family's consent.”
UsageOften used in the plural form 'intimacies'.
Synonyms
“The level of intimacy is such that “I call her mum, because she cooks for me”.”
“Our research suggested that a desire for intimacy with friends wasn’t specific to wanting only close relationships with a few friends.”
From intimate + -cy.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.