1. An acquaintance - a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend.
E. g. A: Do you know Meera? B: She is an acquaintance, I don't know her too well.
2. Confidant - a person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others.
E. g. You are my confidant. I trust you a lot.
3. Camaraderie - mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together
4. A chum - a close friend. E. g. He's having lunch with a few of his old school chums.
5. Peeps - people (often used to refer to a person's friends or associates).
E. g. Thanks for the feedback, peeps!
6. A pal / mate - a friend (informal)
Avoid this error: Saying 'she is a true friend' or 'she is my fast friend' is incorrect English. 'True friend', and 'fast friend' are incorrect. If someone is a good friend, use the term 'close friend'.
Idioms:
1. A shoulder to cry on: someone who listens to your problems
It's always good to talk to Meeta, she's so sympathetic. She's a real shoulder to cry on
2. See eye to eye: to agree with someone
(usually used in the negative sense) They don't always see eye to eye on politics but they're still great friends
3. No love lost: disagree with someone
They used to be best friends but they had a huge fight about money. Now there's no love lost between them
4. Clear the air: two people talk about a problem they have been avoiding discussing
I used to hate the way he kept borrowing things without asking me, but I recently had a chat about it and cleared the air.
5. Patch up our differences: to settle an argument
We were such good friends! Let us forget what happened and patch up our differences.
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