Raymond Walterscalled also Quaker
Caitlin DeweyVictoria SongBella English
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What's the difference between friends and acquaintances?
People often distinguish between an acquaintance and a friend, holding that the former should be used primarily to refer to someone with whom one is not especially close. Many of the earliest uses of acquaintance were in fact in reference to a person with whom one was very close, but the word is now generally reserved for those who are known only slightly.
Acquaintance is often found paired with nodding. Although nodding acquaintance sounds like it describes a person who is known just enough to nod at, it tends to be used instead to refer to a thing or field with which one has a small amount of knowledge or familiarity (and this is the meaning that the phrase has had since its introduction to the language in the early 19th century).
Examples of friend in a Sentence
Garrison Keillor, The New York Times Book Review, 11 June 2006
Over the last couple of years I have experienced moments of disbelief when I meet my friends in public. They look older than I think they should.
—Alice Munro, In the Stacks, 2002
Never had a friend like that before or since. Never laughed so hard in my life as I did with Manny.
—Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997
I'd like you to meet my friend.
He's no friend of mine.
Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2025
Many of the moments are based on stories told to me by my nurse friends, or my men friends and family who were hospitalized and remember some of what happened to them.
—Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 1 Oct. 2025
For a leveled-up beef bite, head on over to BEAR Steak Sandwiches, where longtime friends Ricardo Barrientos and Aki Erenberg have found the mathematically conclusive perfect ratio of steak to soft, tasty Portuguese buns in their beef sandwiches (no actual bears on the menu here).
—Gizelle Lau, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for friend
Cite this Entry
“Friend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/friend. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
friend
1 of 2 nounfriend
2 of 2 verb
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