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. be friends
   be friends to be friendly (with)
7. make friends
   make friends to become friendly (with)

verb

1. See befriend
   tr an archaic word for befriend

Friend

²

/ 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

Friend

³

/ frɛnd /

noun

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

Derived Forms

• ˈfriendship, noun
• ˈfriendlessness, noun
• ˈfriendless, adjective

Other Words From

• friend·less adjective
• friend·less·ness noun
• non·friend 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

In addition to the idiom beginning with friend , also see fair-weather friend ; make friends .

Synonym Study

See acquaintance.

Example Sentences

Those who live off campus and don’t plan on coming back to visit campus to, say, hang out with their friends don’t have to get tested.

From Fortune

Paul brushed him off because several friends had already started the process to see if they could be his donor, but each backed out.

From Washington Blade

Trina advised those watching to check in with their friends who appear to be okay.

From Essence.com

Among other things, McCarthy said investigators learned that Ziona and LeBlond had been friends since the two were in middle school and that they remained friends after Ziona transitioned as a woman.

From Washington Blade

A couple years ago my friends were comparing step counts when they asked about mine.

From Fortune

In an email exchange a friend said many had repeated this same succinct review but they could never elaborate.

From The Daily Beast

The two strengthened ties over the years and now Krauss considers Epstein a “close” and “considerate” friend.

From The Daily Beast

What matters is being honest, humble, and a faithful and loyal friend, father and member of your community.

From The Daily Beast

Detectives with a fugitive task force caught up with Polanco and a friend on a Bronx street in the early afternoon.

From The Daily Beast

The gentleman was listed as Orthodox and kosher, which is way too religious for my friend whose JSwipe account I was test-driving.

From The Daily Beast

Some weeks after, the creditor chanced to be in Boston, and in walking up Tremont street, encountered his enterprising friend.

From Project Gutenberg

The blood that accused his friend in his heart, rushed to his face, when he repeated what had been told him.

From Project Gutenberg

It is then we make him our friend, which sets us above the envy and contempt of wicked men.

From Project Gutenberg

Ripperda accompanied this unexpected refusal, with a laboured epistle to his imperial friend.

From Project Gutenberg

A friend and companion meeting together in season, but above them both is a wife with her husband.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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

How Do You Spell Friend?

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.”