Other forms: intimated, intimates
Intimate means deeply close and private. An intimate friend, an intimate conversation, an intimate knowledge of the subject.
It covers closeness of relationship, of setting — an intimate restaurant means a small quiet one — and of knowledge: intimate knowledge means detailed and first-hand. It is also a common euphemism for sexual: an intimate relationship, intimate photographs, and that reading is available whenever the context allows it. Note that there is a separate verb intimate, stressed differently, meaning to hint at something.
1adjectiveintimateDeeply close and private.
“They had an intimate dinner for two by candlelight.”
2adjectivedetailedDetailed and first-hand.
“She has an intimate knowledge of every road on that coast.”
3verbhintTo hint at something.
“He intimated that a decision had already been taken.”
intimate is a quality of closeness.
Latin intimus means innermost, the superlative of the word behind interior. To be intimate with somebody is to be admitted to the innermost part, which is a fair account of what the word promises.
Latin
intimātus
English, today
intimate
Built from
Latin intimātus, the perfect passive participle of intimō (“to put or bring into, to impress, to make familiar”) (see -ate), from intimus (“inmost, innermost, most intimate”), superlative of intus (“within”), from in (“in”); see interior.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA