Unfriend vs Befriend - What's the difference?
unfriend | befriend | Related terms |
One who is not a friend; an enemy.
* 1822 , Scott, Nigel :
* 1916 , William Edwin Chilton, John Downey Works, Fiscal relation between the United States and the District of Columbia
* 1999 , Kees Waaijman, John Vriend, The mystical space of Carmel :
(rare) To sever as friends.
* 1659 , Thomas Fuller, The Appeal of Injured Innocence
(Internet) To defriend; to remove from one's friends list (eg on a social networking website).
* 2007 , Mia Consalvo, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Internet Research Annual: Volume 4
To become a friend of, to make friends with.
* 1854 , (Henry David Thoreau), (Walden), p. 143.
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(dated) To act as a friend to, to assist.
* (rfdate) (Jonathan Swift)
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To favor.
* 1599 , (William Shakespeare),
* 1709 , (John Denham) "The Sophy", in Poems and translations: with the Sophy, a tragedy , Fifth edition [http://books.google.com/books?id=J_oKSClMF7cC&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=%22Now+if+your+plots+be+ripe,+you+are+%27%27%27befriended%27%27%27+With+opportunity%22&source=bl&ots=TM1JZjzUhv&sig=YqPk32bF8zeqdypmaXvHUKGZ_pQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZQ1ZUNmmJsa_0QGBkoGgBw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Now%20if%20your%20plots%20be%20ripe%2C%20you%20are%20%27%27%27befriended%27%27%27%20With%20opportunity%22&f=false]
* 1709 , (Alexander Pope), ''(An Essay on Criticism)
* 1712 , (Joseph Addison), . As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's servants , Act II, edited and published by Jacob Tonson (1733)
* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), , ch. 4, "Morrison's Pill"
Befriend is a antonym of unfriend.
As verbs the difference between unfriend and befriend
is that unfriend is to sever as friends while befriend is to become a friend of, to make friends with.As a noun unfriend
is one who is not a friend; an enemy.unfriend
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Noun
(en noun)- Ye have back-friends, my lord, that is, un-friends , or to be plain, enemies.
- Thus many unfriends and some friends of the Capital agree upon the same policy with diverse and contradictory motives
- The unfriend' betrays me, ignores me, denies me, breaks me down; the ' unfriend is against and tries to devour my personhood.
Synonyms
* (l)Verb
(en verb)- "I hope, sir, that we are not mutually Unfriended by this Difference which hath happened betwixt us."
- "I asked her why, she said it was because I didn't comment, and I shrugged and said whatever. I didn't unfriend her."
Synonyms
* defriendAntonyms
* friend * befriendbefriend
English
Verb
(en verb)- Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me.
- Brother servants must befriend one another.
- If it will please Caesar / To be so good to Caesar, as to hear me, / I shall beseech him to befriend himself.
- Now if your plots be ripe, you are befriended / With opportunity.
- Be thou the first true merit to befriend ; / His praise is lost, who stays till all commend.
- See them embarked, And tell me if the winds and seas befriend them.
- This Universe has its Laws. If we walk according to the Law, the Law-Maker will befriend us; if not, not.