Meaning & use
befriend
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To start a friendship with someone, often by showing kindness to a person who is new, lonely or in need.
Grammar: Always takes an object: she befriended the new student.
Patterns
- befriend someone
- be befriended by someone
She befriended the new student by inviting her to sit at her lunch table.
The old man befriended a stray dog that wandered into his garden.
Volunteers are trained to befriend lonely residents of the care home.
verbtransitive
To become friendly with someone for a purpose, such as to gain trust or information.
Grammar: Takes an object; the context often suggests a hidden motive: he befriended the manager to get a job.
Patterns
- befriend someone in order to do something
The journalist befriended a clerk in the hope of learning the truth.
He befriended the neighbors mainly to borrow their car.
Scammers sometimes befriend people online before asking for money.
Word forms
| third person singular | befriends |
|---|---|
| past tense | befriended |
| past participle | befriended |
| -ing form | befriending |
Common combinations
- befriend a stranger
- It takes courage to befriend a stranger in a new city.
- befriend a classmate
- He tried to befriend a classmate who always ate alone.
- befriend an animal
- The sailor befriended a seagull that followed the ship.
- quickly befriend
- The two girls quickly befriended each other at camp.
- befriend a refugee
- The church group helped befriend a refugee family.
Synonyms and how they differ
- make friends with
- Make friends with is the plain everyday phrase, while befriend sounds slightly more formal and often suggests kindness.
- take under your wing
- Take under your wing implies protecting and guiding someone younger or weaker, which goes beyond simple friendship.
- get to know
- Get to know only means becoming acquainted and does not necessarily mean friendship.
- ingratiate yourself with
- Ingratiate yourself with suggests seeking favor for personal gain and is disapproving, whereas befriend is usually kind.
Opposites
Word family
- friend noun
- a person you know and like
- friendly adjective
- kind and pleasant toward others
- friendship noun
- the relationship between friends
- unfriend verb
- to remove someone from your online friends
- befriender noun
- someone who offers friendship, especially as a volunteer
Commonly confused: befriend or be friends with?
befriend vs be friends with
Be friends with describes an existing relationship, while befriend means the act of starting one, often with kindness.
Practice
On her first day at the school, a kind classmate decided to ___ her and showed her around.
Choose one answer.
Befriend means to become a friend to someone, often in a kind way. Defend, betray and bestow look somewhat like it but do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “befriend”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.