best friend
5 synonyms and 2 antonyms for best friend, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The one person you are closest to outside your family, whom you trust most, tell things you tell nobody else, and choose to spend the most time with.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Antonyms
worst enemy
stranger
How to use best friend
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
my best friend
best friend since childhood
best friend forever
man's best friend
become best friends
Neutral. Bestie and BFF are the casual forms; BFF originated in text and is now used ironically as often as sincerely.
Etymology
From Middle English best frend, best freond, equivalent to best + friend. Compare West Frisian bêste freon (“best friend”), Dutch beste vriend (“best friend”), German bester Freund (“best friend”).
Full origin of best friend →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a best friend and a close friend?
A close friend is someone you trust and see often, and you can have several. A best friend is the single closest of those, the default person you tell first and call in a crisis. The distinction is about ranking, not warmth.
What is the difference between BFF and best friend?
BFF stands for best friends forever and means the same thing, but it is informal, came out of text messaging and is often used lightly or jokingly. Best friend is what you would say in serious conversation or in writing.
Can you have more than one best friend?
Grammatically it is a superlative, so strictly there is only one. In practice people often say 'my best friends' about a small group, and nobody objects; it just signals a tier rather than a single ranking.
