befriend
Americanverb (used with object)
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befriends,
present (3rd person singular)
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befriended,
past participle, past
-
befriending
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
befriendsimple
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befriendssimple
-
have befriendedperfect
-
has befriendedperfect
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am befriendingprogressive
-
are befriendingprogressive
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is befriendingprogressive
-
have been befriendingperfect progressive
-
has been befriendingperfect progressive
Past
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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:
Don’t miss: Why does almost nobody want to befriend older people like me — except scammers?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Hatton had unsuccessfully tried to befriend the old place on nine previous visits and, after starting with a two-over par 74 on Thursday, finally managed to ingratiate himself on Friday.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
“They befriend you and say all the right things to get to you,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
In a similar leap, Jimmy and Alice forgive and befriend Goldstein’s Louis, the man who crashed his car into Tia’s and killed her.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
I don’t think she needs someone to befriend her, either, but who knows?
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
He stars alongside Ben Kingsley, whose pompous thespian Trevor Slattery befriends Simon while secretly working with the nefarious Department of Damage Control.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Once she settles in, the girl befriends other spirits and wins them over with her acceptance and understanding — including a few shunned by everyone else, like the famous No-Face.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
She spends her nights cleaning the local aquarium, where she befriends a Pacific octopus named Marcellus.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
He befriends Mr. Durand, who owns the station with his partner, Emma, a British researcher, and makes it his mission to keep their station going and the forest around it intact.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
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
Irish actor Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar for her role in “My Left Foot” and whose Pigeon Lady befriended Macaulay Culkin‘s Kevin McCallister in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Aang befriended Zuko, an exiled Fire Nation prince who at first hunted Aang to regain his father’s approval before joining his quarry’s mission to restore peace.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
A friend of mine befriended a homeless man and took him in.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Over the years, he has befriended sports figures like Mike Tyson, Don King and Herschel Walker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
I could see that the comrade who had befriended the warder wanted the sandwich, and I nodded for him to take it.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Swire believes Megrahi is innocent, even befriending the convicted bomber up until his death in 2012.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
But by experiencing these girls and by befriending these girls, she is actually now opening her mind to be more susceptible to friendship, and ... understanding individuals who are different from who she is.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
Khalil has spoken at length about befriending Jewish students at Columbia, attending Shabbat dinners and seeing Jewish students as “integral” during the protest movement on campus.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 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
At the moment, arguing with a crazy wind god seemed safer than befriending an angry son of Hades.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
