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

Thorne stopped by our New York City studio to chat with my bud Ralphie Aversa about what Riri has to deal with this season, from villainous frenemy The Hood (Anthony Ramos) to her own personal issues. —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 28 June 2025

Movie depictions of video stores are inherently self-reflexive, and many of them express the resistance of the theatrical-movie business to its home-video frenemy. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 10 June 2025

Busted by Maggie, whose obsession with Negan was a constant source of resentment, the youngster took off to find the Dama, who Maggie subsequently learned from her frenemy was dead. —Charlie Mason, TVLine, 8 June 2025

Meanwhile Elon Musk’s old frenemy and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, the first of the Silicon Valley tycoons to endorse Trump way back in the innocent times of 2016, had paid $15 million to help get his protégé J.D. —Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 15 June 2025

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