unfriend

• un-friend

From Middle English unfreend, onfrend, equivalent to un- (noun/adjective prefix) +‎ friend. Cognate with Scots unfrend (“unfriend”). Compare Old English unfriþmann, unwine.

• Rhymes: -ɛnd
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈʌnfɹɛnd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

unfriend (plural unfriends)

1. One who is not a friend; an enemy.

   Synonyms: nonfriend, non-friend

   Hyponym: backfriend

   • 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 88–89:

     It is even as I suspected, my lord, […] Ye have back-friends, my lord, that is, unfriends—or, to be plain, enemies—about the person of the Prince.

   • 1856, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Poor Clare:

     I wonder often it has not drawn her out of the grave to come and stand before me, and hear me tell her how I loved her. For, sir, we parted unfriends.

   • 1916, William Edwin Chilton, John Downey Works, Fiscal relation between the United States and the District of Columbia:

     Thus many unfriends and some friends of the Capital agree upon the same policy with diverse and contradictory motives […]

   • 1999, Kees Waaijman, John Vriend, The mystical space of Carmel:

     The unfriend betrays me, ignores me, denies me, breaks me down; the unfriend is against and tries to devour my personhood.

• unfriendly

From un- (verb prefix) +‎ friend. Compare Dutch ontvrienden (“to unfriend”), German entfreunden (“to unfriend”).

• Rhymes: -ɛnd
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɹɛnd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

unfriend (third-person singular simple present unfriends, present participle unfriending, simple past and past participle unfriended)

1. (rare) To sever as friends.
   • 1659, Thomas Fuller, The Appeal of Injured Innocence:

     "I hope, sir, that we are not mutually Unfriended by this Difference which hath happened betwixt us."

2. (social media) To defriend; to remove from one's friends list (e.g. on a social networking website).
   • 2007, Mia Consalvo, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Internet Research Annual: Volume 4:

     "I asked her why, she said it was because I didn't comment, and I shrugged and said whatever. I didn't unfriend her."

   • 2013, Nils Smith, Social Media Guide for Ministry: What It Is and How to Use It:

     Without unfriending someone, you can now choose to limit or block (unsubscribe) someone from your newsfeed or choose to see only what Facebook deems as very important.

• defriend

• friend
• befriend

• reinfund