CS Knowledge Base

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɛnd.li/, /ˈfɹɛn.li/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛndli, -ɛnli

From Middle English frendly, freendly, frendely, frendlich, from Old English frēondlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndlīkaz, equivalent to friend +‎ -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian früntelk, fjuntelk (“friendly”), West Frisian freonlik (“friendly”), Dutch vriendelijk (“friendly”), German Low German fründelk, frünnelk (“friendly”), German freundlich (“friendly”). Doublet of friendlike.

friendly (comparative friendlier or more friendly, superlative friendliest or most friendly)

1. Generally warm, approachable and easy to relate with in character.

   Synonym: chummy (informal)

   Your cat seems very friendly.

   • 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 9:

     They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.

   • 2007, Eugene Buchanan, Brothers on the Bashkaus: A Siberian Paddling Adventure, page 36:

     Our friendliest carmates are a family from Armenia taking a vacation from the Georgian war.

2. Inviting, characteristic of friendliness.

   Synonym: familiar

   He gave a friendly smile.

3. Having an easy or accepting relationship with something.

   a user-friendly software program

   a dog-friendly café

   the use of environmentally friendly packaging

   • 1956 January, 'Mercury', “The Railways of North-East Switzerland”, in Railway Magazine, page 23:

     The inter-working of the Bodensee-Toggenburg, Swiss South-Eastern and Swiss Federal Railways is of a most friendly kind.

   • 2016 October 22, Rami G Khouri, “Lebanese oligarchy preserves its interests once again”, in Aljazeera‎^[1]:

     Hariri even nominated Hezbollah-friendly Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency, which by tradition is held by a Maronite Christian; but Hezbollah and Aoun held out, insisting that Aoun would be president or there would be no president at all.

   • 2024 December 4, Krisztian Sandor, “Binance's BNB Hits Fresh Record, Breaks Out of 3-Year Range as Altcoin Rotation Accelerates”, in CoinDesk‎^[2]:

     Older cryptocurrencies with regulatory overhang including Ripple's XRP and TRX were among the biggest gainers over the past month as Donald Trump's election victory promises a friendlier regulatory environment towards digital assets.

4. (in compounds) Compatible with, or not damaging to (the compounded noun).

   The cobbled streets aren't very bike-friendly.

   Organic farms only use soil-friendly fertilisers.

   Our sandwiches are made with dolphin-friendly tuna.

   • 2010, Tony Pinchuck, Barbara McCrea, Donald Reid, Ross Velton, The Rough Guide to South Africa, 6th edition, London: Rough Guides, →ISBN, pages 147–148:

     An offbeat pizza restaurant, which also serves pasta and salads, and bills itself as low-fat and heart-friendly. Has over forty different designer pizza toppings, such as smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar.

5. Without any hostility.

   a friendly competition

   a friendly power or state

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     in friendly relations with his moderate opponents

6. Promoting the good of any person; favourable; propitious.

   a friendly breeze or gale

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 10:

     Coarſe are his Meals, the Fortune of the Chaſe, / Amidſt the running Stream he ſlakes his Thirſt, / Toil's all the Day, and at th' approach of Night / On the firſt friendly Bank he throws him down, / Or reſts his Head upon a Rock 'till Morn: […]

7. (usually military) Of or pertaining to friendlies (friendly noun sense 2, below). Also applied to other bipolar confrontations, such as team sports.

   The soldier was killed by friendly fire.

8. (number theory) Being or relating to two or more natural numbers with a common abundancy.

   friendly

   friendly pairs

   friendly n-tuples

• hostile
• unfriendly
• non-friendly, nonfriendly

friendly (plural friendlies)

1. (sports) A game which is of no consequence in terms of ranking, betting, etc.

   This match is merely a friendly, so don't worry too much about it.

   • 2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News‎^[3]:

     Brazil provided a different test from Germany and gave England lessons Southgate will store before he gets his squad together again for friendlies against the Netherlands in Amsterdam and at home to Italy in March.

2. A person or entity on the same side as one's own in a conflict.
   • 1898, Ernest Bennett, The Downfall of the Dervishes:

     These were speedily routed by the friendlies, who attacked the small force before them in fine style.

   • 2008, Dennis Wengert, A Very Healthy Insanity, page 44:

     You see, the mission of almost every teenage girl on the loose is to first identify the targets, just like a war. These include the primary objective (the boy), the enemy (other girls), the friendlies (sympathetic girl friends and the boy's family), and unfriendlies (other boys).

   • 2017 July 6, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary‎^[4], archived from the original on 20 January 2024:

     "What's coming?" "Dunno yet. Cindy! Active scanning! Pulse hard, but don't cook any friendlies."

   • 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 19:47 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918‎^[5], archived from the original on 4 August 2022:

     Reports from SMS Kaiser indicate scouting destroyers attacked and destroyed a large submarine to the north. Hipper orders the destroyers to be more careful; the High Seas Fleet is approaching the U-boat patrol line, and he has a feeling they've just sunk a friendly.

From Middle English frendly, frendliche, from Old English frēondlīċe (“in a friendly manner”), equivalent to friend +‎ -ly.

friendly (comparative more friendly, superlative most friendly)

1. In a friendly manner; like a friend.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     And looke we friendly on them when they come:
     But if they offer word or violence,
     Weele fight fiue hundred men at armes to one,
     Before we part with our poſſeſſion: […]

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

     And we cannot doubt, our Brothers in Physick [...] will friendly accept, if not countenance our endeavours.

• amicably, friendlily