befriend

[ bih-frend ]

verb (used with object)

1. to make friends or become friendly with; act as a friend to; help; aid:

   to befriend the lonely and the disregarded.

   Synonyms: welcome, succor, sustain, encourage, assist, associate, ally

befriend

/ bɪˈfrɛnd /

verb

1. tr to be a friend to; assist; favour

Other Words From

• unbe·friended adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of befriend¹

First recorded in 1550–60; be- + friend

Example Sentences

Which itself, in turn, makes it harder to befriend people from the other side.

From The Daily Beast

You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

From The Daily Beast

But whatever their private feeling, politicians have been keen to befriend a critical power-broker.

From The Daily Beast

Rose MacMurray has a precocious teenaged girl befriend the poet in her novel, Afternoons with Emily.

From The Daily Beast

For her sake alone I should think he would be pleased to find others ready to befriend her.

From Project Gutenberg

On the following day he parted forever from the family that he would have given his life to befriend.

From Project Gutenberg

Sisters, let us try by all possible means to befriend our own sex and help all who are thrown in our way, heavenward.

From Project Gutenberg

His principal witness has run away, his old friends all turn against him, and circumstantial evidence doesn't befriend him.

From Project Gutenberg

And with that sigh there was a smile that lasted when the sigh was gone: for I promised to befriend her children.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• advise
• aid
• patronize