friendship
Americannoun
-
friendships
plural
-
the state of being a friend; association as friends.
to value a person's friendship.
-
a friendly relation or intimacy.
- Synonyms:
- rapport, understanding, accord, harmony
-
friendly feeling or disposition.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of friendship
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English frēondscipe, equivalent to friend + -ship
Explanation
Friendship is the state of being friends with someone. A good job, good health, and romantic love are important, but without real friendship, your life might not feel full. When we talk about friendship, we're often talking about the value of having friends, not just the fact of it. A book might explore the importance of friendship in a young girl's life. You might decide to stop working such long hours and spend more time developing your friendships, in an effort to lead a happier life. A deep friendship can last through many shifts and changes in life, as long as you write or call every now and then.
Vocabulary lists containing friendship
Beowulf vocabulary
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"Encounter"
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Relationships
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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:
But their friendship could count for nothing in the castle, Ranganathan said ahead of the show.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
“Saturday Night Live” kicked off its 52nd season with a familiar Donald Trump impression, an increasingly familiar presidential friendship and a brand-new character: White House aide Natalie Harp.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
"Through the characters, it shows the enduring nature of love and friendship, and that, even though all this stuff is going on, people survive."
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
They forged a friendship in 1853, the couple encouraging and advising Brahms at every turn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
She had come to think it was out of friendship, for he had been distinctly helpful to them on several occasions—but had he merely been spying on them all along?
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
That doesn’t necessarily mean this new social norm of having to text before you call has serious consequences, or that phone calls are the only way to maintain friendships.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
There are two types of friendship: healthy friendships and unhealthy friendships, but no friendship is perfect, and it can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between the two.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
“Genuine friendships will survive any kind of rift,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
More than two decades after they first met on the Harry Potter set, Felton says the friendships between the young cast have endured.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Humans, like chimps, have social instincts that enabled our ancestors to form friendships and hierarchies, and to hunt or fight together.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
