FRIEND Synonyms: 145 Similar and Opposite Words

friend 1 of 2

noun

ˈfrend

Definition of friend

as in buddy

a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another really close friends who like to do everything together and are always sharing secrets

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in proponent

a person who actively supports or favors a cause hopes that the new governor will be a friend to environmental causes

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

friend

2 of 2

verb

as in to befriend

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of friend

Noun

While the two remained oblivious to each other’s feelings, all their friends suspected the two had a crush on each other. — Shelby Wax, Vogue, 1 Sep. 2026 Ask a friend or mentor to read it for flow and engagement before submitting. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026

Verb

The discourse started to boil when the Duchess of Sussex declared to friend Mindy Kaling that her last name is now Sussex in season 1 of Netflix’s With Love, Meghan, which premiered in March 2025. — Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 7 Apr. 2026 Sending his wife Luciana and all his family and friends our condolences. — Shafiq Najib, ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for friend

Recent Examples of Synonyms for friend

Noun

Another buddy, Steven Spielberg, also supplied some intimate footage.

— Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 25 Aug. 2026
Mel might be a disaster with her loud mouth and impolite antics, but her over-the-top meddling does her buddies some good.

— Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of buddy

Noun

The mere existence of such a network, proponents say, would give would-be criminals pause, knowing there’s nowhere to run without being watched.

— Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
The memo is a bit surprising considering Gates still advises Microsoft, one of the major proponents of the technology, and an investor in OpenAI.

— Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of proponent

Verb

Having befriended Billy Ray Cyrus in the early ’90s, Parton was Cyrus’s honorary godmother and even lived up to that designation through guest spots on Hannah Montana.

— Marah Eakin, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
Cyrus’s father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus, befriended Parton in the 1990s and later asked her to be Miley’s godmother.

— Hannah Malach, InStyle, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of befriend

Noun

Carlile shared the stage with Parton, and her colleagues in the Highwomen, at the 2019 Newport Folk Festival.

— Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 26 Aug. 2026
My colleague Bruce Feldman has been talking up the Wolfpack all offseason, due in large part to stud QB CJ Bailey and RB Duke Scott, who had 947 all-purpose yards as a freshman.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of colleague

Verb

Getting that apparently trivial behavior working involved Home Assistant, MQTT, custom software, and more Claude, Codex and ChatGPT tokens than one should reasonably associate with boiling pasta.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 27 Aug. 2026
The team believes that the approach could reduce wasted heat and also eliminate emissions associated with burning fossil fuels in cement kilns.

— Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of associate

Noun

Cohen would later act as Sun’s protector and confidant through the years of the Chinese Revolution.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Aug. 2026
Rebecca seems sinister but is also tantalizing, especially to Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), a shy secretary who becomes Rebecca’s… confidant?

— Chris Bellamy, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of confidant

Noun

So are 44 of 50 state attorneys general, dozens of Indian tribes, consumer advocates, addiction experts, and an increasingly bipartisan contingent on Capitol Hill.

— Marshall Cohen, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026
Satish Thiagarjan, founder and CEO of Brysa, advocates using a scoring system rather than relying on instinct.

— Alison Coleman, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of advocate

Browse Nearby Words

fried

friend

friended

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Style

“Friend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/friend. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of friend

noun

verb

Example Sentences

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