1. nodding acquaintance - Noun
2. nodding acquaintance - Phrase
(idiomatic, usually followed by with) A casual or partial familiarity; a relationship which is not close or fully developed; an inexact understanding (of something).
(idiomatic) Someone who is a remote or passing acquaintance.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgThe nice thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socially impressive. Kenneth Williams
A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man. E. W. Howe
Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance. Charles Caleb Colton
My mother was a children's librarian. I remember when traditional stories were revised for modern audiences until they bore only a nodding acquaintance with the originals, but were released as 'authentic Indian stories' when they were, in fact, nothing of the kind. Patricia Briggs
I was officially advised that during the long vacation it might be profitable to attain at least a nodding acquaintance with the curriculum, and thus stave off the already likely possibility that I would receive a degree classified so low it would be tantamount to a certificate of mental disability. Clive James