intimacy:
1. The state or condition of being intimate; the capacity to relate to another person in an emotionally open, equal, and caring way .2. An instance of being intimate; a close, trusting, confidential friendship (or personal relationship) between two people who are completely at ease with one another and feel free to express their innermost feelings.
3. Or: be-intimate-with , a euphemism, since the 17 th century, for sexual-intercourse , based on the standard meaning of closeness, both physically and emotionally. Not all intimate relationships are sexual; however, intimacy is an important factor for a fulfilling sexual relationship .
Intimacy is also defined by:
-- Janet Shibley & John D . DeLamater. Understanding Human Sexuality (1997): ' The level of commitment and positive affective, cognitive, and physical closeness one experiences with a partner .'
-- Planned Parenthood : ' The closeness and familiarity we feel as we share our private and personal selves with someone else .'
See Also: affair of love, affair of the heart, affaire d'amour, affaire de coeur, bill and coo, billie-coo, carnal abuse, companionate love, dirty work at the crossroads, engage in marriage joys, inhibited sexual desire, intimacy, ISD, jactation, liaison, love affair, making out, outercourse, romantic affair, shack-up
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