befriend

verb

be·​friend bi-ˈfrend How to pronounce befriend (audio)
befriended; befriending; befriends

transitive verb

: to become or act as a friend to
befriended the new student

Examples of befriend in a Sentence

He befriended the new student.
Recent Examples on the Web The following year, on the first day of the show's second season, Drake and his father met Peck, a dialogue coach who befriended Drake and invited the actor to his house for acting lessons. Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 15 Mar. 2024 But Hamid threw himself into camp life, befriending neighbors and smoothing over daily calamities. Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Codd joins Mason Thames (The Black Phone) and Nico Parker (The Last of Us), who are starring as Hiccup and Astrid, the young Viking teens who befriend dragons. Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2024 Jones’ two pending cases accuse him of befriending an Alameda County Sheriff’s technician, Shannon Taylor, 51, of Antioch, and convincing her to smuggle methamphetamine into the jail. Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 28 Feb. 2024 The satiric thriller stars Keoghan as an Oxford scholarship student who befriends popular aristocrat Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), eventually accepting an invitation to stay at his family’s estate, Saltburn, for a summer. Shania Russell, EW.com, 26 Feb. 2024 Bazille had by now befriended his hero, so his decision to highlight the peonies was a kind of homage. Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024 Almost immediately Simpson got involved with the city’s burgeoning Civil Rights Movement and befriended Theodore Gibson, the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove and one of the Black community’s leading activists at the time. C. Isaiah Smalls Ii, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2024 Shortly after moving to El Llano, Escobar met and befriended an anthropologist, Francisca Reyes. Ana Karina Zatarain, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'befriend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1559, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of befriend was in 1559

Dictionary Entries Near befriend

Cite this Entry

“Befriend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/befriend. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

befriend

verb
be·​friend bi-ˈfrend How to pronounce befriend (audio)
: to become or act as a friend to
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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