good friend

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   Someone you know well and trust, whom you enjoy spending time with and can rely on.

   Grammar: Countable: a good friend, my good friends.

   Patterns

   • a good friend of someone
   • a good friend to someone

   Tom is a good friend, so I told him first.

   She has been a good friend to me for years.

   He is a good friend of my brother.

2. 2nouncountableformal

   A polite or sometimes sarcastic way of referring to someone in speech.

   Grammar: Often 'my good friend' in formal speech.

   Patterns

   • my good friend

   My good friend the senator will explain.

   Listen, my good friend, you should rest.

   The host greeted his good friend warmly.

Word forms

Common combinations

a good friend of mine

He is a good friend of mine.

make good friends

She made good friends at camp.

remain good friends

They remain good friends.

treat someone as a good friend

He treats me as a good friend.

Synonyms and how they differ

close friend

Close friend stresses emotional closeness more than good friend does.

best friend

Best friend is the single closest person.

pal

Pal is informal and lighter.

buddy

Buddy is casual and mostly American.

Opposites

Word family

friend noun

a person you like

friendship noun

the relationship

friendly adjective

kind and open

befriend verb

to become a friend of

Commonly confused: good friend or acquaintance?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “good friend”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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