Intimate - Wiktionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Adjective, noun

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

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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Verb

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

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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

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intimate (comparative more intimate, superlative most intimate)

1. Closely acquainted; familiar. Synonym: thick (informal) an intimate friend He and his sister deeply valued their intimate relationship as they didn't have much else to live for.
2. Of or involved in a sexual relationship. She enjoyed some intimate time alone with her husband.
   • 2011 October 28, Kevin Underhill, “Shape-Shifting Donkey Prostitute Strikes Again”, in Lowering the Bar‎[1], archived from the original on 16 December 2022:The man, who had been arrested for being intimate with a donkey, admitted the conduct in question but claimed that the donkey had not been a donkey when he met her at a nightclub last Saturday night, but rather a prostitute.
3. Personal; private. an intimate setting
4. Pertaining to details that require great familiarity to know The candidate showed an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of politics.
   • 2015, Slawomir Pikula, Joanna Bandorowicz-Pikula, Patrick Groves, “NMR of lipids”, in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, volume 44, Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISSN, page 391:Grélard et al.87 determined the intimate structure of pseudoviral particles of hepatitis B subvirus using solid-state NMR, light scattering, and cryo-electron microscopy.
5. Very finely mixed. Black powder consists of an intimate mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur.

Derived terms

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• extimate
• intimate apparel
• intimate area
• intimately
• intimateness
• intimate partner violence
• intimate parts
• intimater
• intimate relations
• intimatopia
• nonintimate
• overintimate
• ultraintimate
• unintimate

Translations

[edit] closely acquainted; familiar

Bulgarian: интимен (bg) (intimen) Catalan: íntim Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: důvěrný (cs) Dutch: innig (nl) Esperanto: intima (eo) Estonian: lähedane (et) Finnish: tuttu (fi) French: intime (fr) Galician: íntimo German: vertraut (de), innig (de) Greek: στενός (el) (stenós), οικείος (el) (oikeíos) Hungarian: meghitt (hu), közeli (hu) Irish: caidreamhach Italian: stretto (it), intimo (it) Korean: 친(親)하다 (ko) (chinhada), 친밀(親密)하다 (ko) (chinmilhada) (typically not of people) Latvian: intīms, tuvs Maori: taupiri, kauawhiawhi (of a building), takapui Mari: Eastern Mari: лишыл (ĺišyl) Norwegian: Bokmål: intim, fortrolig (no) Persian: صَمیمی (fa) (samimi) Polish: bliski (pl) Portuguese: íntimo (pt) Romanian: intim (ro) Russian: бли́зкий (ru) (blízkij) Spanish: íntimo (es) Swedish: intim (sv) Thai: สนิท (th) (sà-nìt), สนิทสนม (th), ใกล้ชิด (th) Ukrainian: інти́мний (intýmnyj), близьки́й (uk) (blyzʹkýj)

of or involved in a sexual relationship

Bulgarian: интимен (bg) (intimen) Catalan: íntim Chinese: Mandarin: 親近 / 亲近 (zh) (qīnjìn), 親密 / 亲密 (zh) (qīnmì) Dutch: intiem (nl) Estonian: intiimne Finnish: intiimi (fi) French: intime (fr) Galician: íntimo German: intim (de) Greek: ενδόμυχος (el) (endómychos) Hungarian: intim (hu) Italian: intimo (it) Japanese: 親密な (ja) (しんみつな, shinmitsu na) Latvian: intīms Norman: întînme Norwegian: Bokmål: intim Polish: intymny (pl) Portuguese: íntimo (pt) Romanian: intim (ro) Russian: инти́мный (ru) (intímnyj) Swedish: intim (sv) Ukrainian: інти́мний (intýmnyj) Yiddish: אינטימיש (intimish)

personal, private

Bulgarian: личен (bg) (ličen), съкровен (bg) (sǎkroven) Catalan: íntim Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: intima (eo) Estonian: isiklik (et) Finnish: henkilökohtainen (fi) Galician: íntimo Greek: ιδιωτικός (el) (idiotikós), προσωπικός (el) (prosopikós) Hungarian: bizalmas (hu) Italian: privato (it), proprio (it), personale (it) Latvian: intīms, personisks Norwegian: Bokmål: intim, privat, personlig (no) Polish: osobisty (pl), intymny (pl) Portuguese: íntimo (pt), pessoal (pt) Romanian: intim (ro), personal (ro) Russian: ли́чный (ru) (líčnyj) Spanish: íntimo (es) Swedish: intim (sv) Thai: ส่วนตัว (th) (sùuan-dtuua) Ukrainian: інти́мний (intýmnyj) Yiddish: אינטים (intim)

Etymology 2

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From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Noun

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intimate (plural intimates)

1. A very close friend. Synonyms: bosom buddy, bosom friend, cater-cousin Only a couple of intimates had ever read his writing.
2. (in the plural intimates) Women's underwear, sleepwear, or lingerie, especially offered for sale in a store. Synonym: intimate apparel You'll find bras and panties in the intimates section upstairs.

Translations

[edit] very close friend

Belarusian: блізкі сябар m (blizki sjabar), блізкі сябра m (blizki sjabra), блізкая сяброўка f (blizkaja sjabrówka), таечка f (taječka) Bulgarian: близък приятел (blizǎk prijatel) Estonian: lähedane sõber Finnish: läheinen ystävä Hungarian: kebelbarát (hu) Irish: caidreamhach m Italian: amico per la pelle m Portuguese: íntimo (pt) m Russian: близкий друг m (blizkij drug), близкая подруга f (blizkaja podruga), наперсник (ru) m (napersnik), наперсница (ru) f (napersnica)

intimates: women's underwear, sleepwear or lingerie

Bulgarian: бельо (bg) n (beljo) Italian: biancheria intima f

Etymology 3

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From Latin intimātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French intimer.

Verb

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intimate (third-person singular simple present intimates, present participle intimating, simple past and past participle intimated)

1. (ambitransitive) To suggest or disclose (something) discreetly. Synonym: hint He intimated that we should leave before the argument escalated.
   • 1878, Henry James, An International Episode‎[2]:One of our friends, nevertheless—the younger one—intimated that he felt a disposition to interrupt a few of these soft familiarities; but his companion observed, pertinently enough, that he had better be careful.
   • 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Talk about your own mistakes first”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 223:[…]Von Bulow saved himself in time—but, canny diplomat that he was, he nevertheless had made one error: he should have begun by talking about his own shortcomings and Wilhelm's superiority—not by intimating that the Kaiser was a half-wit in need of a guardian.
   • 2025 August 7, Jonathan Lemire, “Things Aren’t Going Donald Trump’s Way”, in The Atlantic‎[3]:He feels deeply betrayed by his MAGA supporters who believed him when he intimated during the campaign that something was nefarious about the government’s handling of the [Epstein] case, and who now have a hard time believing him when he says their suspicions are actually bogus.
2. (transitive, India) To notify. I will intimate you when the details are available.

Derived terms

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• unintimated

Translations

[edit] To suggest or disclose discreetly

Bulgarian: намеквам (bg) (namekvam), подмятам (bg) (podmjatam) Dutch: suggereren (nl), laten doorschemeren Esperanto: intimi Finnish: antaa ymmärtää, vihjata (fi) German: vorsichtig andeuten Greek: Ancient Greek: ὑποσημαίνω (huposēmaínō) Hungarian: utal (hu), céloz (hu) Irish: cuir in iúl Latin: subsōnō Polish: sugerować (pl), zasugerować Russian: намекать (ru) (namekatʹ), извещать (ru) (izveščatʹ) Spanish: intimar (es) Swedish: antyda (sv)

Related terms

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• intimacy
• intimation

Further reading

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• “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

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• antitime

Esperanto

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Adverb

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intimate

1. present adverbial passive participle of intimi

Italian

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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intimate

1. inflection of intimare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

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Participle

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intimate f pl

1. feminine plural of intimato

Anagrams

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• Mainetti, imitante

Latin

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Verb

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intimāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of intimō

Spanish

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Verb

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intimate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of intimar combined with te