Frenemy

"Frenemies" redirects here. For the 2009 film, see Little Fish, Strange Pond. For the 2012 film, see Frenemies (film). For the Glee episode, see Frenemies (Glee). For the Sex and the City episode, see Frenemies (Sex and the City).

"Frenemy" (less commonly spelled "frienemy") is an oxymoron and a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy" that can refer to either an enemy pretending to be a friend or someone who really is a friend but also a rival. The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions. The word has appeared in print as early as 1953.

People

A Businessweek article stated that frenemies in the workplace are common, due to increasingly informal environments and the "abundance of very close, intertwined relationships that bridge people's professional and personal lives ... [while] it certainly wasn't unheard of for people to socialize with colleagues in the past, the sheer amount of time that people spend at work now has left a lot of people with less time and inclination to develop friendships outside of the office."

See also

• Coopetition
• The enemy of my enemy is my friend
• Promoting adversaries

External links

• Sir Martin sorrell discusses medi changes
• LA Times: Google an ally, not a threat, media exec says
• The Word - Apocalypse Mao: Murdered by the Orient's Success - Frenemy (Colbert Report)