unfriend someone

Meaning

To unfriend someone means to remove them from your list of friends or connections on a social media platform, particularly Facebook. It can also be used metaphorically in real life to describe cutting ties with someone after a disagreement.

Examples

• I had to unfriend someone yesterday because they kept posting political rants.

  I had to unfriend someone yesterday because they kept posting political rants.

• Did you unfriend someone from high school, or did they delete their account?

  Did you unfriend someone from high school, or did they delete their account?

• She threatened to unfriend someone if they spoiled the movie ending.

  She threatened to unfriend someone if they spoiled the movie ending.

• It's so petty to unfriend someone just because you had a minor argument.

  It's so petty to unfriend someone just because you had a minor argument.

• I decided to clean up my social media and unfriend someone I haven't spoken to in ten years.

  I decided to clean up my social media and unfriend someone I haven't spoken to in ten years.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I defriended him on Facebook.

  ✓ I unfriended him on Facebook.

  While 'defriend' was used in the early days of social media, 'unfriend' has become the globally accepted standard term.

• ✗ She unfriended with me.

  ✓ She unfriended me.

  'Unfriend' is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object directly without the preposition 'with'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• It's easy to ___ online, but much harder to end a friendship in real life.

  💡 Remove a person from your social media friends list.

  Show answer

  unfriend someone

• Sometimes you just have to ___ to protect your peace of mind.

  💡 Disconnect from an acquaintance on social networks.

  Show answer

  unfriend someone