FRIEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• FRIEND (noun)
  The noun FRIEND has 5 senses:

1. a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

2. an associate who provides cooperation or assistance

3. a person with whom you are acquainted

4. a person who backs a politician or a team etc.

5. a member of the Religious Society of Friends founded by George Fox (the Friends have never called themselves Quakers)

  Familiarity information: FRIEND used as a noun is common.

• FRIEND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person you know well and regard with affection and trust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

he was my best friend at the university

Hypernyms ("friend" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friend"):

best friend (the one friend who is closest to you)

schoolfriend (a friend who attends the same school)

roomie; roommate; roomy (an associate who shares a room with you)

mate (informal term for a friend of the same sex)

light (a person regarded very fondly)

girlfriend (any female friend)

flatmate (an associate who shares an apartment with you)

confidant; intimate (someone to whom private matters are confided)

associate; companion; comrade; familiar; fellow (a friend who is frequently in the company of another)

brother; buddy; chum; crony; pal; sidekick (a close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities)

brother; comrade (used as a term of address for those male persons engaged in the same movement)

amigo (a friend or comrade)

alter ego (a very close and trusted friend who seems almost a part of yourself)

Instance hyponyms:

Phintias; Pythias (friend of Damon; Phintias (according to legend) was condemned to death by Dionysius the Elder and asked a respite to put his affairs in order; Damon pledged his life for the return of his friend; when Phintias returned in time the tyrant released them both (4th century BC))

Damon (the friend of Phintias who pledged his life that Phintias would return (4th century BC))

Damon and Pythias ((Greek mythology) according to a Greek legend: when Pythias was sentenced to be executed Damon took his place to allow Pythias to get his affairs in order; when Pythias returned in time to save Damon the king was so impressed that he let them both live)

Derivation:

friendly (characteristic of or befitting a friend)

friendship (the state of being friends (or friendly))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An associate who provides cooperation or assistance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ally; friend

Context example:

he's a good ally in fight

Hypernyms ("friend" is a kind of...):

associate (a person who joins with others in some activity or endeavor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friend"):

blood brother (a male sworn (usually by a ceremony involving the mingling of blood) to treat another as his brother)

Antonym:

foe (a personal enemy)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person with whom you are acquainted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

acquaintance; friend

Context example:

we are friends of the family

Hypernyms ("friend" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friend"):

campmate (someone who lives in the same camp you do)

connection ((usually plural) a person who is influential and to whom you are connected in some way (as by family or friendship))

end man (a man at one end of a row of people)

homeboy (a male friend from your neighborhood or hometown)

messmate ((nautical) an associate with whom you share meals in the same mess (as on a ship))

pickup (a casual acquaintance; often made in hope of sexual relationships)

class fellow; classmate; schoolfellow; schoolmate (an acquaintance that you go to school with)

bunkmate (someone who occupies the same sleeping quarters as yourself)

Derivation:

friendship (the state of being friends (or friendly))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person who backs a politician or a team etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

admirer; booster; champion; friend; protagonist; supporter

Context example:

they are friends of the library

Hypernyms ("friend" is a kind of...):

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "friend"):

loyalist; stalwart (a person who is loyal to their allegiance (especially in times of revolt))

Whig (a supporter of the American Revolution)

verifier; voucher (someone who vouches for another or for the correctness of a statement)

maintainer; sustainer; upholder (someone who upholds or maintains)

toaster; wassailer (someone who proposes a toast; someone who drinks to the health of success of someone or some venture)

sympathiser; sympathizer; well-wisher (someone who shares your feelings or opinions and hopes that you will be successful)

endorser; indorser; ratifier; subscriber (someone who expresses strong approval)

Shavian (an admirer of G. B. Shaw or his works)

seconder (someone who endorses a motion or petition as a necessary preliminary to a discussion or vote)

Roundhead (a supporter of parliament and Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War)

mainstay; pillar (a prominent supporter)

Graecophile; philhellene; philhellenist (an admirer of Greece and everything Greek)

New Dealer (a supporter of the economic policies in the United States known as the New Deal)

Jacobite (a supporter of James II after he was overthrown or a supporter of the Stuarts)

functionalist (an adherent of functionalism)

free trader (an advocate of unrestricted international trade)

Francophil; Francophile (an admirer of France and everything French)

enthusiast; partisan; partizan (an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of some person or activity)

corporatist (a supporter of corporatism)

Confederate (a supporter of the Confederate States of America)

cheerleader (an enthusiastic and vocal supporter)

Boswell (a devoted admirer and recorder of another's words and deeds)

believer; truster (a supporter who accepts something as true)

anglophil; anglophile (an admirer of England and things English)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A member of the Religious Society of Friends founded by George Fox (the Friends have never called themselves Quakers)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Friend; Quaker

Hypernyms ("Friend" is a kind of...):

Christian (a religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination)

Instance hyponyms:

Penn; William Penn (Englishman and Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania (1644-1718))

Holonyms ("Friend" is a member of...):

Quakers; Religious Society of Friends; Society of Friends (a Christian sect founded by George Fox about 1660; commonly called Quakers)

 Context examples 

"Who was that lady friend I seen you with that night?" she asked abruptly.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Another farmer, who lived hard by, and was a particular friend of my master, came on a visit on purpose to inquire into the truth of this story.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw that he cocked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

First, Uranus will send the new moon of February 23 bright greetings from your friends, hopes, and wishes sector (eleventh house).

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He was glad to find his friends waiting for him, and told them of his terrible interview with the Wizard.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Then the straw began and said: “Dear friends, from whence do you come here?”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“It's all right,” said Mr. Barkis, shaking hands; “I'm a friend of your'n. You made it all right, first. It's all right.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in London.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Skeet was a little Irish setter who early made friends with Buck, who, in a dying condition, was unable to resent her first advances.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"How dare you say so, when he's got both his eyes? And very handsome ones they are, too," cried Jo, who resented any slighting remarks about her friend.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)