FRIENDSHIP

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does friendship mean? 

• FRIENDSHIP (noun)
  The noun FRIENDSHIP has 1 sense:

1. the state of being friends (or friendly)

  Familiarity information: FRIENDSHIP used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRIENDSHIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being friends (or friendly)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

friendly relationship; friendship

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

relationship (a state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries)

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

blood brotherhood (the friendship characteristic of blood brothers)

companionship; company; fellowship; society (the state of being with someone)

confidence; trust (a trustful relationship)

Derivation:

friend (a person with whom you are acquainted)

friend (a person you know well and regard with affection and trust)

 Context examples 

I—who, though I had no love, had much friendship for him—was hurt by the marked omission: so much hurt that tears started to my eyes.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I should be very sorry that such a friendship as has subsisted between him and Captain Benwick should be destroyed, or even wounded, by a circumstance of this sort.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But—oh, Ned, our friendship has been so good and so pleasant!

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I never thought of anything but a traveling friendship till the serenade night.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

This long letter, full of my own concerns alone, will be enough to tire even the friendship of a Fanny.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

With the greatest respect, and the warmest friendship, do I mention Miss Woodhouse; my father perhaps will think I ought to add, with the deepest humiliation.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

You know I carry my notions of friendship pretty high.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"Then White Fang, to show his friendship, will have to be chief mourner at the funeral," laughed the master.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Could they turn from their door one, however monstrous, who solicited their compassion and friendship?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)