frenemy

noun

fren·​e·​my ˈfre-nə-mē 

plural frenemies

informal : a person who is or pretends to be a friend but who is also in some ways an enemy or rival

In Hollywood, everyone has lots of frenemies, usually people who are doing comparatively well at any given moment.

—Pete Clark

In an awkward awards ceremony, Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger [Woods] stood on the 18th green together as frenemies. Phil held up the crystal trophy for the tournament title, while Tiger squirreled away a $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup …

—Selena Roberts

Examples of frenemy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Trachtenberg and Lively both appeared on the 2007-2012 series, with Trachtenberg portraying bad girl Georgina Sparks, a frenemy to Lively's Serena van der Woodsen. —Lindsay Kimble, People.com, 27 Feb. 2025

Gracie’s hot frenemy Benjamin Bratt is getting to run his own operation! —Emma Specter, Vogue, 21 Feb. 2025

The commitment means Barkley is becoming more of a frenemy to the city of San Francisco than just a critic. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2025

While Harvey and Mike were the beating heart (and Jessica, the fearsome lioness) of Suits, the show’s ensemble formed its strong backbone: Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), Harvey’s petulant, heart-on-his-sleeve frenemy, became the kind of character audiences loved to hate, or even grew to love. —Max Gao, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

blend of friend entry 1 and enemy

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frenemy

• enemy

Kids Definition

frenemy

noun

fren·​e·​my

ˈfren-ə-mē

plural frenemies

informal : someone who pretends to be a friend but is really an enemy