befriend
Americanverb (used with object)
-
befriends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
befriended,
past participle, past
-
befriending
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
befriendsimple
-
befriendssimple
-
have befriendedperfect
-
has befriendedperfect
-
am befriendingprogressive
-
are befriendingprogressive
-
is befriendingprogressive
-
have been befriendingperfect progressive
-
has been befriendingperfect progressive
Past
-
befriendedsimple
-
had befriendedperfect
-
was befriendingprogressive
-
were befriendingprogressive
-
had been befriendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of befriend
Explanation
There are many ways to make someone your friend. You can offer assistance with a project, or provide comfort at a time of loss. Perhaps the easiest way to befriend someone, however, is just to smile and say "hi." The prefix "be-" is from Old English, and has several meanings. In befriend, the meaning is "cause to be," so to befriend someone is to cause him or her to be your friend. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
Vocabulary lists containing befriend
Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) Tribute List
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"Sordid" and "Blatant" Attacks: Ten Words in the News You Need to Know
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Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Because who would watch a movie about two little girls who befriend a gentle forest creature and . . . that’s it?
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
You’re not out to fleece anyone with egregiously high commissions or merely befriend another member because you want to flog the latest financial product.
From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026
"He would make sure to befriend them and make them feel comfortable."
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
“They befriend you and say all the right things to get to you,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
Maybe I can befriend her behind Dylan’s back.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
She spends her nights cleaning the local aquarium, where she befriends a Pacific octopus named Marcellus.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Cathy befriends young Heathcliff after her rich, alcoholic father brings him to live and work as a servant on their estate perched atop the windy English moors.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2026
Lise has run-ins with other passengers aboard her flight and, once at her destination, befriends a bumbling, dotty widow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Eugene Ottinger is one of Nevermore Academy's quirkier students and president of the school's beekeeping club, which is where he first befriends Wednesday.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
As he has no children to play with, he befriends the wild rabbits, offering them food and stroking their fur until he can touch their twitching noses.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Perhaps her most memorable role, however, came two years later when Fricker was cast as the homeless bird lady befriended by Macaulay Culkin's Kevin in Home Alone 2.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
A friend of mine befriended a homeless man and took him in.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
After our visit to Adat Reyim, an inclusive, independent synagogue in Springfield, Virginia, I befriended its spiritual leader, Rabbi Bruce Aft.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2026
Her life is saved by one of the crows that she has befriended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Only the woman who had first befriended him called out softly, in the tongue of her people, a farewell to the traveler.
From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford
While Aang’s saga follows the trajectory of Western fantasies that revolve around a Chosen One, his stubborn insistence on nonviolence and befriending perceived enemies reflects Miyazaki’s reverence for empathy, innocence and life’s natural beauty.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Following Kim Il Sung's death, Kim Jong Il rose to become North Korea's supreme leader, and Ko became the country's de-facto first lady, accompanying her husband on military inspections and befriending his entourage.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
When one man, Samuel Bateman, transforms himself from a schlubby loser to a new cult leader, Marie realizes he’s a predator and goes undercover, befriending him to bring him down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
“She was someone who was very interested in befriending others for status, more so than being a friend,” one classmate recalled.
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2025
Penelope suppressed a smile, for she had not yet given up hopes of befriending Lady Constance.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
