familiar

/fəˈmɪljər/

/fəˈmɪliə/

Other forms: familiars

When something is so commonplace you know it well, it's familiar. A familiar song might be one that you hum along to without even thinking about it.

Like family, anything or anyone you're familiar with has been in your life for a while. It can be used in many ways. After six years of Spanish, you'll be familiar with how to conjugate verbs. You and your close friends are on familiar terms. The smell of musty tent fabric is familiar to anyone who grew up going camping a lot, and may bring on a wave of nostalgia.

Definitions of familiar

1. noun

   a friend who is frequently in the company of another
   synonyms: associate, companion, comrade, fellow

   types:

   date, escort

   a participant in a date

   playfellow, playmate

   a companion at play

   tovarich, tovarisch

   a comrade (especially in Russian communism)

   blind date

   a participant in a blind date (someone you meet for the first time when you have a date with them)

   type of:

   friend

   a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
2. noun

   a person attached to the household of a high official (as a pope or bishop) who renders service in return for support
   type of:

   retainer, servant

   a person working in the service of another (especially in the household)
3. noun

   a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard
   synonyms: familiar spirit

   type of:

   disembodied spirit, spirit

   any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings
4. adjective

   well known or easily recognized
   “a familiar figure”

   “familiar songs”

   “familiar guests”

   synonyms:

   acquainted

   having fair knowledge of

   beaten

   much trodden and worn smooth or bare

   long-familiar, well-known

   frequently experienced; known closely or intimately

   old

   (used for emphasis) very familiar

   known

   apprehended with certainty

   antonyms:

   unfamiliar

   not known or well known

   strange, unknown

   not known before

   unacquainted, unacquainted with, unfamiliar with

   having little or no knowledge of

   foreign, strange

   relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world

   unknown

   not known
5. adjective

   within normal everyday experience; common and ordinary; not strange
   “familiar ordinary objects found in every home”

   “a familiar everyday scene”

   “a familiar excuse”

   “a day like any other filled with familiar duties and experiences”

   synonyms:

   common, usual

   commonly encountered

   common or garden

   the usual or familiar type

   everyday

   commonplace and ordinary

   antonyms:

   strange

   being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird

   antic, fantastic, fantastical, grotesque

   ludicrously odd

   crazy

   bizarre or fantastic

   curious, funny, odd, peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, singular

   beyond or deviating from the usual or expected

   eerie, eery, spooky

   inspiring a feeling of fear; strange and frightening

   exotic

   strikingly strange or unusual

   freaky

   strange and somewhat frightening

   gothic

   characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque

   oddish

   somewhat strange

   other

   very unusual; different in character or quality from the normal or expected

   quaint

   strange in an interesting or pleasing way

   quaint

   very strange or unusual; odd or even incongruous in character or appearance

   weird

   strikingly odd or unusual
6. adjective

   (usually followed by `with') well informed about or knowing thoroughly
   “familiar with the complex machinery”

   “he was familiar with those roads”

   synonyms: conversant

   informed

   having much knowledge or education
7. adjective

   having mutual interests or affections; of established friendship
   “on familiar terms”

   synonyms: intimate

   close

   close in relevance or relationship