frenemy

noun

fren·​e·​my ˈfre-nə-mē 

plural frenemies

informal : a person who is or pretends to be a friend but who is also in some ways an enemy or rival

In Hollywood, everyone has lots of frenemies, usually people who are doing comparatively well at any given moment.

—Pete Clark

In an awkward awards ceremony, Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger [Woods] stood on the 18th green together as frenemies. Phil held up the crystal trophy for the tournament title, while Tiger squirreled away a $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup …

—Selena Roberts

Examples of frenemy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Meanwhile, the running frenemy dynamic between senior trooper Thorny (Chandrasekhar) and his coarse, obnoxious colleague Farva (Kevin Heffernan) takes more strain than usual when Farva becomes engaged to Thorny’s sister Sarita (Hannah Simone). — Guy Lodge, Variety, 5 Aug. 2026

But perhaps basketball history is better served by LeBron remaining a frenemy of Curry, not a teammate. — Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026

Robert quickly takes an interest in student body president Susan Reynolds (Kaia Gerber), best frenemy of Liz’s daughter Debbie Schaffer (Hayes Warner) and high school sweetheart of sensitive jock Thom Wright (Graham Campbell). — Erin Jensen, USA Today, 4 Aug. 2026

Kevin Owens ultimately won the match with a stunner on his longtime frenemy Sami Zayn, who now has a whole new round of ammunition for complaints about a WWE conspiracy. — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

blend of friend entry 1 and enemy

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frenemy

• enemy

Kids Definition

frenemy

noun

fren·​e·​my

ˈfren-ə-mē

plural frenemies

informal : someone who pretends to be a friend but is really an enemy