Yahoo Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   familiar

   /fəˈmɪlɪə/

   adjective

   • 1. well known from long or close association: "their faces will be familiar to many of you"
   • ▪ often encountered or experienced; common: "the situation was all too familiar" Similar well knownknownrecognizedaccustomedcommoneverydayday-to-dayordinarycommonplacefrequenthabitualusualcustomaryrepeatedroutinestandardstockmundanerun-of-the-millconventionalhouseholddomesticcommon or gardengarden varietyinformal:bog-standardliterary:wontedOpposite unfamiliar
   • ▪ having a good knowledge of: "ensure that you are familiar with the heating controls"
   • 2. in close friendship; intimate: "she had not realized they were on such familiar terms" Similar closeintimatedearnearconfidentialbosomfriendlyneighbourlysociableamicableeasyinformal:pallychummymateybuddy-buddypalsy-walsythickthick as thieves
   • ▪ informal or intimate to an inappropriate degree: "he was being overly familiar with Gloria" Similar overfamiliarunduly familiarover-freepresumptuousdisrespectfulforwardboldimpudentimpertinentintrusivemaking passes atchatting upmaking advances towardsinformal:pushyOpposite formal

   noun

   • 1. a demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal: "her familiars were her two little griffons that nested in her skirts"
   • 2. a close friend or associate.
   • 3. (in the Roman Catholic Church) a person rendering certain services in a pope's or bishop's household.

   Word Origin Middle English (in the sense ‘intimate’, ‘on a family footing’): from Old French familier, from Latin familiaris, from familia ‘household servants, family’, from famulus ‘servant’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. familiarly adverb

   Scrabble Points: 13

   • F

     4

   • A

     1

   • M

     3

   • I

     1

   • L

     1

   • I

     1

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points