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
He also suggested that library security befriend and train nearby retailers to report any suspicious activity, especially involving art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Try to befriend some of those nasty souls?
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Things get considerably more complex when, at the last minute, Lilac becomes one of the headliners at a book festival Sophie is working and briefly befriends her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
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
Despite the risks, Lucas begins carrying coded notes for Madame Garnier and befriends one of the young mothers, Claire, and her baby boy, at the maternity home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 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
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
On the comedy scene in Philadelphia, where he lived from 2013 to 2019, he befriended his future “Tires” partners, including Chris O’Connor, a show writer who plays the pensive mechanic Cal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
The fire licked his skin like something living, a darting, burning creature that he had befriended, a creature that caressed him and danced for him and drove the night away.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Swire believes Megrahi is innocent, even befriending the convicted bomber up until his death in 2012.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
When my colleague Malia Mendez went to an event recently, people told her that attending Junk Journal Club “has made befriending strangers easy,” and many of them stay in touch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 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
The reasons for that are complicated, and Tony gave them flesh and blood by befriending some Mexican kitchen workers at a restaurant owned by an earlier, successful immigrant from Greece.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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.
