# unfriend

Pronunciation: say "UN-frend" /ˈʌnfɹɛnd/

## Verb

1. To remove someone from one's list of contacts on a social networking site, ending the connection there.
   - Simple: To remove someone from your list of friends on a website like Facebook.
   - _He chose to unfriend several former coworkers after leaving the company._
   - _After the heated thread, she quietly unfriended her cousin._

## Noun

2. A person who is not a friend; an enemy.
   - Simple: Someone who is no friend to you, an enemy.
   - _He had made an unfriend of the magistrate through years of open insolence._
   - _The chieftain counted the rival clans among his unfriends._

## Verb

3. To break off a friendship; to cease being friends with another person. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To end a friendship with someone.
   - _The partners decided to unfriend once their business interests sharply diverged._
   - _After the betrayal, the two old companions unfriended for good._

## Origin

**Meaning 2** — From Middle English unfreend or onfrend, formed from the prefix un- plus friend. It is cognate with Scots unfrend, and may be compared with Old English unfriþmann and unwine.
**Meanings 1, 3** — Formed from the verb prefix un- plus friend, comparable to Dutch ontvrienden and German entfreunden, both meaning "to unfriend".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/unfriend (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).