| English Dictionary |
FRIENDLY (friendlier, friendliest)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, friendliest Dictionary entry overview: What does friendly mean?
• FRIENDLY (noun)
The noun FRIENDLY has 1 sense:
1. troops belonging to or allied with your own military forces
Familiarity information: FRIENDLY used as a noun is very rare.
• FRIENDLY (adjective)
The adjective FRIENDLY has 4 senses:
1. characteristic of or befitting a friend
2. inclined to help or support; not antagonistic or hostile
3. easy to understand or use
4. of or belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally
Familiarity information: FRIENDLY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Troops belonging to or allied with your own military forces
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Context example:
friendlies came to their rescue
Hypernyms ("friendly" is a kind of...):
military personnel; soldiery; troops (soldiers collectively)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Antonym:
hostile (troops belonging to the enemy's military forces)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: friendliest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Characteristic of or befitting a friend
Context example:
a friendly host and hostess
Similar:
neighborly; neighbourly (exhibiting the qualities expected in a friendly neighbor)
social (marked by friendly companionship with others)
cozy; informal; intimate (having or fostering a warm or friendly and informal atmosphere)
couthie; couthy ((chiefly Scottish) agreeable and genial)
comradely; hail-fellow; hail-fellow-well-met (heartily friendly and congenial)
companionate (like a companion)
chummy; matey; pally; palsy-walsy ((used colloquially) having the relationship of friends or pals)
affable; amiable; cordial; genial (diffusing warmth and friendliness)
Also:
congenial (suitable to your needs)
gracious (characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of spirit)
hospitable (disposed to treat guests and strangers with cordiality and generosity)
amicable (characterized by friendship and good will)
social (living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups)
sociable (inclined to or conducive to companionship with others)
warm (psychologically warm; friendly and responsive)
Attribute:
friendliness (a friendly disposition)
Antonym:
unfriendly (not disposed to friendship or friendliness)
Derivation:
friend (a person you know well and regard with affection and trust)
friendliness (a friendly disposition)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Inclined to help or support; not antagonistic or hostile
Synonyms:
friendly; well-disposed; well disposed
Context example:
a relaxed environment well-disposed to the appreciation of good food and fine wine
Similar:
amicable (characterized by friendship and good will)
Derivation:
friendliness (a feeling of liking for another person; enjoyment in their company)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Easy to understand or use
Context example:
a reader-friendly novel
Domain usage:
combining form (a bound form used only in compounds)
Antonym:
unfriendly (not easy to understand or use)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Of or belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally
Context example:
he was accidentally killed by friendly fire
Antonym:
hostile (not belonging to your own country's forces or those of an ally)
Context examples
He was in no friendly mood, when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and asked to see where his box had been stowed.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“And still no more dead men,” I twitted Louis, when Smoke and Henderson, side by side, in friendly conversation, took their first exercise on deck.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Buck did not attack, but circled him about and hedged him in with friendly advances.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
She was never, as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly fashion.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Von Schmidt was also inclined to be friendly, was Martin's conclusion from this unusual favor.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Of course, with Uranus, one never knows which way things will go, but it is a friendly aspect, so let’s think good thoughts.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
All that I have learned I got from a friendly native in the yard of our own inn.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We have been on a friendly footing for some years—I may say on a very friendly footing.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Mr. Micawber was quite overcome by these friendly words, and by finding Mr. Dick's hand again within his own.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It came quite close to Beth, and looked at her with a friendly eye and sat upon a warm stone, dressing its wet feathers, quite at home.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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