befriend
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
befriendsimple
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befriendssimple
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have befriendedperfect
-
has befriendedperfect
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am befriendingprogressive
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are befriendingprogressive
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is befriendingprogressive
-
have been befriendingperfect progressive
-
has been befriendingperfect progressive
Past
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befriendedsimple
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had befriendedperfect
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was befriendingprogressive
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were befriendingprogressive
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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:
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
"The approach now is to try and befriend people, rather than coerce them."
From BBC ● May 20, 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
Dr. Kelson is so lonely that he’s begun to befriend one of those spine-ripping alphas, whom he calls Samson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
It was her father, trying to befriend her.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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
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
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
Insects are beset not only by viruses and bacteria but also by fungi, protozoa, microscopic worms, and other beings from all that unseen world of minute life that, by and large, befriends mankind.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
A friend of mine befriended a homeless man and took him in.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
His family moved from the Southeast part of Washington DC when Armstrong was young and later settled in a largely white neighbourhood in Maryland, where he befriended a soccer coach's son.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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
She could eat chicken because she had never befriended one.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
Swire believes Megrahi is innocent, even befriending the convicted bomber up until his death in 2012.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
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
Imagine a 21st century take on Margaret Mead befriending Samoans, only with cozy knit sweaters and a dash of animation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 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.
