ˈintəməsē, -si noun
( -es )
Etymology: intimate (II) + -cy
1. : the state of being intimate: as
a. : close association or connection
the furnishings suggested at least some intimacy with the outside world — C.L.Jones
in the city you are more free from unwelcome intimacy — M.R.Cohen
b. : close personal relationship especially marked by affection or love (as in close friendship)
a long intimacy with the governor of the state
long continued intimacy with the fields and meadows about him — Encyc. Americana
a common danger had made of these two enemies friends … and now that the danger had passed their intimacy was done — Jack McLaren
c. : a relationship marked by depth of knowledge or broadness of information
his intimacy with the history of the middle ages
d. : complete intermixture, compounding, or interweaving
would call for some effort to disentangle a relationship of things marked by such intimacy
2. : the quality or state of being careful and searching in notation of details
an intimacy of observation which few scientists can equal — H.S.Canby
3.
a. : a sexual liberty taken
resented the pawing intimacies of the man who was driving the car — Erle Stanley Gardner
specifically : sexual intercourse
denied charges of having an affair with a married woman … though she said intimacy between them had taken place about 25 times — New York Enquirer
or an instance of it
indications that she had recently experienced an intimacy — R.O.Lawson & S.D.Greene
b. : an objectionable liberty taken with the person
became embarrassingly familiar with the intimacies of fame — Green Peyton
4. : the quality of affecting one in a usually pleasant intimate personal way
music marked by an intimacy of expression
5. : the state of seeming to be in a close friendly personal relationship — used of inanimate things
the almost cloistered intimacy of much of the route — American Guide Series: Vermont
6. : the capacity for establishing oneself quickly in an intimate personal relationship
only one other man possessing this curious intimacy with wild things — Edison Marshall