intimate

English Online Dictionary. What means intimate‎? What does intimate mean?

English

Pronunciation

Adjective, noun

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

Verb

• enPR: ĭn'tĭmāt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.tɪ.meɪt/

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.

2. Of or involved in a sexual relationship.
3. Personal; private.

4. Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know
5. Very finely mixed.

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

2. (in the plural intimates) Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store.

   Synonym: intimate apparel

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.
2. (transitive, India) To notify.

Translations

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimation

Further reading

• “intimate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “intimate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• antitime

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

• Mainetti, imitante

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