friend

[frend]

noun

1. a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

   Synonyms: confidant, crony, chum, comrade
   Antonyms: foe, enemy

2. a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter

   friends of the Boston Symphony.

   Synonyms: advocate, backer

3. a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile.

   Who goes there? Friend or foe?

4. a member of the same nation, party, etc.

   Synonyms: compatriot, confrere, associate, ally
   Antonyms: foe, enemy

5. Friend, a member of the Society of Friends; a Quaker.

   The religious practices of Friends are founded in direct communion with God.

6. a person associated with another as a contact on a social media website.

   We've never met, but we're Facebook friends.

verb (used with object)

1. Rare.,  to befriend.

2. to add (a person) to one's list of contacts on a social media website.

   I just friended a couple of guys in my class.

friend

¹

/ frɛnd /

noun

1. a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty; an intimate

2. an acquaintance or associate

3. an ally in a fight or cause; supporter

4. a fellow member of a party, society, etc

5. a patron or supporter

   a friend of the opera

6. to be friendly (with)

7. to become friendly (with)

verb

1. (tr) an archaic word for befriend

Friend

²

/ frɛnd /

noun

1. a member of the Religious Society of Friends; Quaker

Friend

³

/ frɛnd /

noun

1. mountaineering a device consisting of a shaft with double-headed spring-loaded cams that can be wedged in a crack to provide an anchor point

Other Word Forms

• friendless adjective
• friendlessness noun
• nonfriend noun
• friendship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of friend¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English friend, frend, Old English frēond “friend, lover, relative” (cognate with Old Saxon friund, Old High German friunt ( German Freund ), Gothic frijōnds ), originally the present participle of frēogan, cognate with Gothic frijōn “to love”

Word History and Origins

Origin of friend¹

Old English frēond ; related to Old Saxon friund , Old Norse frǣndi , Gothic frijōnds , Old High German friunt

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. make friends with, to enter into friendly relations with; become a friend to.

More idioms and phrases containing friend

• fair-weather friend
• make friends

Synonym Study

See acquaintance.

Example Sentences

Those behind the statue included Williamson’s friends Robin Swanson, a Democratic communications consultant, and Angie Tate, then a chief fundraiser for the California Democratic Party.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Afterward, with the help of remaining friends, he slunk off to the U.S. in 1876, where he taught in Massachusetts for a while, then took up as a freelance newspaper writer in Chicago.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

These, however, also feel funereal, like death masks taken after a long-suffering friend has been freed finally from corporeal struggles.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Down this road lies an obvious risk for the left: Bill Clinton and friends, who were the real power elite Epstein sought to cultivate in his criminal heyday.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A limited number of friends and relatives would struggle to provide unpaid stopgap care to aging adults.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• acquaintance 
• ally 
• associate 
• buddy 
• classmate 
• colleague 
• companion 
• cousin 
• partner 
• roommate 

When To Use

Spelling tips for friend

The word friend is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it sounds like [ frend ], making it easy to miss the i. Second, even if you know there is an i, it can be difficult to remember the order of the i and the e.How to spell friend: To remember that friend has an i in it, think of the phrase "I see my friends on Friday." Both friend and Friday begin fri-. If you remember that friend has an i in it, but just can't remember where it goes, keep in mind the classic mnemonic device "I before E, except after C."