Meaning & use
bestie
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
Your closest friend, the person you trust and spend the most time with.
Grammar: Informal; often used as a way of addressing a friend.
Patterns
- my bestie
My bestie and I talk every night.
She texted her bestie about the news.
He is not just a coworker, he is my bestie.
nouncountableslang
A friendly nickname used when talking to a close friend or someone you like.
Grammar: Used as a form of address in messages: thanks, bestie.
Thanks for the lift, bestie.
Happy birthday, bestie!
Let's meet up soon, bestie.
Word forms
| plural | besties |
|---|
Common combinations
- my bestie
- My bestie came to my wedding.
- childhood bestie
- She called her childhood bestie every week.
- bestie goals
- The two of them are total bestie goals.
- bestie trip
- We planned a bestie trip to the beach.
- best besties
- They have been best besties since school.
Synonyms and how they differ
- best friend
- The standard neutral phrase, which works in any setting, while bestie is playful and casual.
- BFF
- An abbreviation used mostly in texts and online, meaning best friend forever.
- buddy
- Means a friend in a general, easy way, and is not necessarily the closest one.
- pal
- A casual word for a friend, with less emotional closeness than bestie.
Opposites
Word family
- best adjective
- of the highest quality
- besties noun
- plural, close friends
- bestie-ship noun
- informal, a close friendship
Commonly confused: bestie or bestiary?
bestie vs bestiary
A bestiary is a medieval book of animals; it has nothing to do with friendship.
Practice
Which sentence uses bestie appropriately?
Choose one answer.
Bestie fits relaxed talk about a close friend. The others place it in formal settings where it is out of place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bestie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.