best friend
Americannoun
-
best friends
plural
-
a person’s closest or most cherished friend.
Sheila has been my best friend since we were seven.
- Synonyms:
- bosom friend, bosom buddy, bff, bf, bestie
-
something that a person particularly depends on or has a special affection for.
A purple, stuffed armadillo was my best friend and companion through my whole childhood.
-
something considered or suggested to be particularly useful or valuable.
When it comes to saving for retirement, compound interest is your new best friend.
Your local piano tuner could be your best friend when buying a piano.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of best friend
First recorded before 1000
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.
She has had family over to visit and has created a list of things to do in London with best friend and team-mate Fernandez.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Luckily I'm out with my photography-loving best friend, who helps adjust the settings on the camera and gets snapping while I'm otherwise engaged on the dancefloor.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
‘We are not romantically involved’: I’m marrying my platonic best friend of 20 years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
There was his bond with trumpeter Booker Little, his high-school best friend who died at 23 in 1961, and whose searching spirit and disciplined musicianship profoundly affected Mr. Lloyd’s approach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
What kind of person would bring harm to his best friend, I mumbled to myself.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
