A frenemy is someone who acts like a friend but actually competes with you or does you harm. They praise you in public and spread gossip behind your back. You can hear friend and enemy inside the word. Informal; neutrally, someone who pretends to be your friend.
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a frenemy; frenemies; treat someone as a frenemy
- In the comedy, her frenemy praises every idea in public and undermines it afterwards.
- The two fictional rivals act like friends, but the audience soon sees that they are frenemies.
- He describes the character as a frenemy who smiles while passing on damaging gossip.
What changed
First versionThe novel follows two frenemys competing for the same role.
RevisionThe novel follows two frenemies competing for the same role.
Frenemy ends in a consonant plus y, and such words change y to ies in the plural: frenemies. The clue is inside the word itself: enemy → enemies, so frenemy → frenemies.
A rival competes openly: everyone knows you're competing. A fair-weather friend disappears when things get hard, but won't harm you. A frenemy is friendship on the surface and damage behind your back.
Your turn
The plural of frenemy is ___.
Show the answer
frenemies — Like enemy → enemies, the y after a consonant becomes ies, so frenemies.
Describe a character from a book or series who seems friendly but gets in someone's way. Use frenemy and show both actions.
The heroine's frenemy offers to help with the play, then hides the costume list.
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