English

Noun

familiarity ‎(countable and uncountable, plural familiarities)

1. The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.8:

     It is also folly and injustice to deprive children […] of their fathers familiaritie, and ever to shew them a surly, austere, grim, and disdainefull countenance, hoping thereby to keepe them in awfull feare and duteous obedience.

2. Undue intimacy; inappropriate informality, impertinence.
   • 1927, G K Chesterton, The Return of Don Quixote, p.5:

     Murrel did not in the least object to being called a monkey, yet he always felt a slight distaste when Julian Archer called him one. […] It had to do with a fine shade between familiarity and intimacy which men like Murrel are never ready to disregard, however ready they may be to black their faces.

3. An instance of familiar behaviour.
4. Close or habitual acquaintance with someone or something; understanding or recognition acquired from experience.

Derived terms

• familiarity breeds contempt

Translations