friendship
noun
Simple meaning
A close, warm relationship between people who like and trust each other.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frehndshipSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹɛndʃɪp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
A friendly relationship, or a relationship as friends.
The state of being friends (or friendly)
uncountable
The condition of being friends.
A number of places in the United States
uncountable
Good will.
A minor city in Crockett County, Tennessee.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A friendly relationship, or a relationship as friends.
Used this way, friendship is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use friendship
- “Our long friendship has lasted through many years and changes.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Low stingless nettle of Central and South America having velvety brownish-green toothed leaves and clusters of small green flowers.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.