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Friend
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles.
Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of such bonds. Such characteristics include affection; kindness, love, virtue, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, loyalty, mutual understanding and compassion, enjoyment of each other’s company, trust, and the ability to be oneself, express one’s feelings to others, and make mistakes without fear of judgment from the friend.
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Friend (noun)
A person other than a family member, spouse or lover whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.
“John and I have been friends ever since we were roommates at college.”
“Trust is important between friends.”
“I used to find it hard to make friends when I was shy.”
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Friend (noun)
A boyfriend or girlfriend.
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Friend (noun)
An associate who provides assistance.
“The Automobile Association is every motorist’s friend.”
“The police is every law-abiding citizen’s friend.”
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Friend (noun)
A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted
“a friend of a friend;”
“I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know”
“him.”
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Friend (noun)
A person who backs or supports something.
“I’m not a friend of cheap wine.”
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Friend (noun)
An object or idea that can be used for good.
“Wiktionary is your friend.”
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Friend (noun)
Used as a form of address when warning someone.
“You’d better watch it, friend.”
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Friend (noun)
A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
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Friend (noun)
A spring-loaded camming device.
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Friend (noun)
A paramour of either sex.
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Friend (verb)
To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.
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Friend (verb)
To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.
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Acquaintance (noun)
A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy; acquaintanceship.
“I know of the man; but have no acquaintance with him.”
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Acquaintance (noun)
A person or persons with whom one is acquainted.
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Acquaintance (noun)
knowledge or experience of something
“the pupils had little acquaintance with the language”
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Acquaintance (noun)
slight knowledge of or friendship with someone
“I renewed my acquaintance with Herbert”
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Acquaintance (noun)
a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend
“a wide circle of friends and acquaintances”
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Acquaintance (noun)
acquaintances considered collectively
“his extensive acquaintance included Oscar Wilde and Yeats”