Home › Words › B › backfriendbackfriend/ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/backfriend means A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.backfriend is pronounced /ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/.EtymologyFrom back (adverb or noun) + friend. Sense 3 (“person who pretends to be someone’s friend”) may allude to a person who stays back instead of coming forward to help, and so is not a true friend.nounA friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.Synonym of hangnail (“a loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail”).e.g.“[…] Corrie bit another atom from off the corner of his nail. He had a troublesome "back-friend" or "agnail," at which he often bit.” — 1866, E[liza] Lynn Linton, “Margaret and Ainslie”, in Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 121, column 2:A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy.Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).Words closest in meaningBy meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.backer 67% match — One who, or that which, backs; especially one who backs an entrant in a contest, or who supports an enterprise by funding it. vs backfriend →befriender 65% match — One who befriends. vs backfriend →supporter 62% match — A person who gives support to someone or something.; A person who supports, promotes, advocates or champions a cause, movement, or political party; an adherent. vs backfriend →backative 62% match — backing (financial or otherwise); support vs backfriend →friendboy 61% match — A boyfriend, although of less intensity. vs backfriend →befriendment 57% match — The act of befriending; the act of making friends. vs backfriend →briefback 57% match — Synonym of backbrief. vs backfriend →schoolfriend 56% match — A friend from one's school. vs backfriend →