Meaning & use
familiarity
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Meanings
noununcountable
Knowledge of something gained from having seen, used or studied it before.
Grammar: Usually followed by with: familiarity with the rules, not of the rules.
Patterns
- familiarity with something
Her familiarity with the city helped her find the shortcut.
The job requires familiarity with spreadsheets.
A familiarity with the old tune made him smile.
noununcountable
Ease and closeness in how people treat each other, sometimes more than is polite.
Grammar: Often followed by between or with: familiarity between colleagues.
Patterns
- familiarity between people
- familiarity with someone
He spoke to the manager with an easy familiarity.
The familiarity between the two old friends was clear.
Some clients disliked the waiter's overfamiliarity.
noununcountable
The comfortable feeling of something being known and ordinary because you have met it many times.
Grammar: Used as a general feeling: the familiarity of home.
Patterns
- the familiarity of something
She took comfort in the familiarity of her old street.
The familiarity of the routine soothed him.
After years, the familiarity of the song had faded into the background.
Word forms
| plural | familiarities |
|---|
Common combinations
- familiarity with
- Some familiarity with Python is helpful.
- breed familiarity
- Years of work together bred familiarity.
- sense of familiarity
- The smell gave her a sense of familiarity.
- easy familiarity
- They talked with an easy familiarity.
- growing familiarity
- His growing familiarity with the software saved him time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- acquaintance
- Acquaintance is knowledge of a person or subject, often lighter and less thorough than familiarity.
- knowledge
- Knowledge can be deep and learned, while familiarity may only mean having met something before.
- intimacy
- Intimacy implies deep personal closeness, which is stronger than ordinary familiarity.
Opposites
Word family
- familiar adjective
- well known; often seen or heard
- familiarize verb
- to make someone or yourself well informed about something
- unfamiliar adjective
- not known or recognized
- family noun
- the root word, related through Latin familia
Commonly confused: familiarity or familiar?
familiarity vs familiar
Familiar is the adjective; familiarity is the noun for the state or quality.
Practice
Which sentence uses the correct preposition?
Choose one answer.
Familiarity is followed by with when it means knowing something. Of, at and for are not used in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “familiarity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.