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What is the difference between penfriend and friend?

penfriend | friend | Derived terms |

Friend is a derived term of penfriend.



As nouns the difference between penfriend and friend

is that penfriend is a person, often in a foreign country, with whom one exchanges friendly correspondence but whom one never or rarely meets while friend is a person other than a family member, spouse or lover whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.

As a verb friend is

to act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.

As a proper noun Friend is

{{surname|from=common nouns}.

penfriend

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person, often in a foreign country, with whom one exchanges friendly correspondence but whom one never or rarely meets.

    • Synonyms

    * pen pal

    friend

    English

    (Friendship)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person other than a family member, spouse or lover whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.}}
  • A boyfriend or girlfriend.
  • An associate who provides assistance.
  • A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",
  • A person who backs or supports something.
  • (informal) An object or idea that can be used for good.
  • (colloquial, ironic, used only in the vocative) Used as a form of address when warning someone.
  • (computing, programming) In object-oriented programming, a function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
  • * 1991 , Tom Swan, Learning C++
    • But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends'. Top C++ programmers avoid using ' friends unless absolutely necessary.
  • * 2001 , Stephen Prata, C++ primer plus
    • In that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend .
  • * 2008 , D S Malik, C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
    • To make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype
  • (obsolete) A paramour of either sex.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (person whose company one enjoys) bud (qualifier), buddy (qualifier), chum (British), mate (British), pal, crony, amigo, bro * (boyfriend or girlfriend) boyfriend, girlfriend, lover * (person with whom you are acquainted) acquaintance * (person who provides assistance) ally * (person who backs something) admirer, booster, champion, protagonist, supporter * (form of address used in warning someone) buster, mate (British), pal, buddy * See also

    Antonyms

    * (person whose company one enjoys) enemy, foe, nemesis (nonstandard) * (person who provides assistance) enemy, foe

    Usage notes

    * We usually make a friend'', or ''make friends with someone. See

    Derived terms

    * a friend in need is a friend indeed * best friend * befriend * bosom friend * boy friend * boyfriend * circle of friends * close friend * fair-weather friend * false friend * four-legged friend * * friend of mine * friend of ours * friend with benefits * friendish * friendless * friendly * Friends * friendship * friends list * friendsome * friend zone * girl friend * girlfriend * good friend * identification friend or foe * lady friend * man's best friend * old friend * penfriend, pen friend, pen-friend * schoolfriend

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.ii:
    • Lo sluggish Knight the victors happie pray: / So fortune friends the bold [...].
  • To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.
  • * 2006 , David Fono and Kate Raynes-Goldie, " Hyperfriendship and Beyond: Friends and Social Norms on LiveJournal]" ([http://k4t3.org/publications/hyperfriendship.pdf PDF version]), Internet Research Annual Volume 4 , Peter Lang, ISBN 0820478571, page [http://books.google.com/books?q=%22friend+them%22+consalvo&btnG=Search+Books 99,
    • The difference between responses to the statement, "If someone friends' me, I will '''friend''' them," and "If I '''friend''' someone, I expect them to ' friend me back," is telling.
  • * 2006 , Kevin Farnham and Dale G. Farnham, Myspace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens And Parents , How-To Primers, ISBN 0977883353, page 69,
    • One of the most used features of MySpace is the practice that is nicknamed "friending." If you "friend " someone, then that person is added to your MySpace friends list, and you are added to their friends list.

    Synonyms

    * (to act as the friend of) befriend

    Antonyms

    * (social networking) defriend, unfriend

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * (l) * (l) 1000 English basic words ----