See fair-weather friend in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for fair-weather friend meaning in English (8.7kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fair-weather"
},
"expansion": "fair-weather",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "friend"
},
"expansion": "friend",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From fair-weather + friend, drawing an analogy between good weather and trouble-free times.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "fair-weather friends",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "fair-weather friend (plural fair-weather friends)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"fair-wea‧ther"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
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{
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"name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
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"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
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"Entry maintenance"
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},
{
"kind": "topical",
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"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
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"Fundamental"
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}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "fair-weather friendship"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Coordinate term: all-weather friend"
},
{
"ref": "1730 October 1, [Alexander] Pope, “Letters of Mr. Pope to Mr. Gay. From 1712. to 1730.”, in Letters of Mr. Pope, and Several Eminent Persons. From the Year 1705. to 1735. N.B. This Edition Contains More Letters, and More Correctly Printed, than Any Other Extant, London: Printed, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, published 1735, →OCLC, page 255",
"text": "My Fair-weather Friends of the Summer are going away for London, and I ſhall ſee them and the butterflies together, if I live till next Year; which I would not deſire to do, if it were only for their ſakes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1819 December 23, [Ralph] Bernal, “[House of Commons] Blasphemous Libel Bill”, in T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, editor, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time: Forming a Continuation of the Work Entitled “The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803.”, volume XLI (Comprising the Period from the Twenty-third Day of November, 1819, to the Twenty-eight Day of February, 1820), London: Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street; for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy [et al.], published 1820, →OCLC, column 1524",
"text": "[T]he liberty of the press was not to be looked upon as fit only for seasons of calmness, as a fair-weather friend to be discarded in a storm.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1839, [Lucius M. Sargent], Right Opposite. Founded on Fact (The Temperance Tales; II, number 6), Boston, Mass.: Published by Whipple and Damrell, No. 9 Cornhill; New York, N.Y.: Scofield and Voorhies, No. 118 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 14",
"text": "Ere long a portion of the village spire began to appear among the trees, and the gilded telltale on its top, in which the slippery politician, and the fair weather friend, and the doubting disciple, who is blown about by every wind of doctrine, may behold a happy emblem of life and practice.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1844, T[imothy] S[hay] Arthur, chapter VI, in Cecilia Howard: Or, The Young Lady who had Finished Her Education, New York, N.Y.: John Allen, 139 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 49",
"text": "She did not even attempt to make a reply, or to ask her fairweather friend to remain; but suffered her to leave the room and the house without a word.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1852, C. Toler Wolfe, “Nothing Like Travel”, in A Book of Odds and Ends, Winchester, Va.: Printed by C. Toler Wolfe, Republican Office, →OCLC, page 34",
"text": "Be not pestered with too many friends. […] There are as many grades of friends as there are plaids in the tartan. There is the friend of \"ifs, buts, and ands,\" who always signifies that he would if he could, but as he can't, how can he? Then comes your fair weather friend, who deserts you the very first time you founder in the mud!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1982 April 5, “Italy: New Image, New Influence”, in Time, archived from the original on 2016-04-16",
"text": "[Sandro] Pertini is being embraced as the leader of a staunch and increasingly important ally—a country that, as [Ronald] Reagan put it, \"is no fair-weather friend but instead is an indispensable partner.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Andrew Humphries, Richard Gibbs, “Operational Implications of Culture”, in Enterprise Relationship Management: A Paradigm for Alliance Success, Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, page 63",
"text": "One respondent to a Gibbs and Humphries's research initiative characterised their senior management as ‘fair weather friends’ – keen to support the partnering initiative on day one and when things are going well, but eager to distance themselves when times got tough.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One who is friendly, helpful, or available only when it is advantageous or convenient to be so."
],
"id": "en-fair-weather_friend-en-noun-vl0jiR4W",
"links": [
[
"friendly",
"friendly"
],
[
"helpful",
"helpful"
],
[
"available",
"available"
],
[
"advantageous",
"advantageous"
],
[
"convenient",
"convenient"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) One who is friendly, helpful, or available only when it is advantageous or convenient to be so."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "fair weather friend"
},
{
"word": "fairweather friend"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǔròu péngyǒu",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "酒肉朋友"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "hyvän sään ystävä"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Schönwetterfreund"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "amico per convenienza"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "amico di comdo"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"english": "friend by the full bowl",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "draugs pie pilnas bļodas"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"note": "no equivalent term in Polish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"english": "when used ironically",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "but see przyjaciel"
},
{
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "phaslī baṭerā",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ਫਸਲੀ ਬਟੇਰਾ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "drug do pérvoj bedý",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "друг до пе́рвой беды́"
},
{
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "pʉ̂ʉan-gin",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "เพื่อนกิน"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "iyi gün dostu"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛəˌwɛðə ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛːˌwɛðə ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛɚˌwɛðɚ ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-fair-weather friend.flac",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac.ogg",
"tags": [
"General-American"
],
"text": "Audio (GA)"
},
{
"audio": "en-au-fair-weather friend.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/42/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "fair-weather friend"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"word": "fair-weather friendship"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fair-weather"
},
"expansion": "fair-weather",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "friend"
},
"expansion": "friend",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From fair-weather + friend, drawing an analogy between good weather and trouble-free times.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "fair-weather friends",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "fair-weather friend (plural fair-weather friends)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"fair-wea‧ther"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:People"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Coordinate term: all-weather friend"
},
{
"ref": "1730 October 1, [Alexander] Pope, “Letters of Mr. Pope to Mr. Gay. From 1712. to 1730.”, in Letters of Mr. Pope, and Several Eminent Persons. From the Year 1705. to 1735. N.B. This Edition Contains More Letters, and More Correctly Printed, than Any Other Extant, London: Printed, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, published 1735, →OCLC, page 255",
"text": "My Fair-weather Friends of the Summer are going away for London, and I ſhall ſee them and the butterflies together, if I live till next Year; which I would not deſire to do, if it were only for their ſakes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1819 December 23, [Ralph] Bernal, “[House of Commons] Blasphemous Libel Bill”, in T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, editor, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time: Forming a Continuation of the Work Entitled “The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803.”, volume XLI (Comprising the Period from the Twenty-third Day of November, 1819, to the Twenty-eight Day of February, 1820), London: Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street; for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy [et al.], published 1820, →OCLC, column 1524",
"text": "[T]he liberty of the press was not to be looked upon as fit only for seasons of calmness, as a fair-weather friend to be discarded in a storm.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1839, [Lucius M. Sargent], Right Opposite. Founded on Fact (The Temperance Tales; II, number 6), Boston, Mass.: Published by Whipple and Damrell, No. 9 Cornhill; New York, N.Y.: Scofield and Voorhies, No. 118 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 14",
"text": "Ere long a portion of the village spire began to appear among the trees, and the gilded telltale on its top, in which the slippery politician, and the fair weather friend, and the doubting disciple, who is blown about by every wind of doctrine, may behold a happy emblem of life and practice.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1844, T[imothy] S[hay] Arthur, chapter VI, in Cecilia Howard: Or, The Young Lady who had Finished Her Education, New York, N.Y.: John Allen, 139 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 49",
"text": "She did not even attempt to make a reply, or to ask her fairweather friend to remain; but suffered her to leave the room and the house without a word.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1852, C. Toler Wolfe, “Nothing Like Travel”, in A Book of Odds and Ends, Winchester, Va.: Printed by C. Toler Wolfe, Republican Office, →OCLC, page 34",
"text": "Be not pestered with too many friends. […] There are as many grades of friends as there are plaids in the tartan. There is the friend of \"ifs, buts, and ands,\" who always signifies that he would if he could, but as he can't, how can he? Then comes your fair weather friend, who deserts you the very first time you founder in the mud!",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1982 April 5, “Italy: New Image, New Influence”, in Time, archived from the original on 2016-04-16",
"text": "[Sandro] Pertini is being embraced as the leader of a staunch and increasingly important ally—a country that, as [Ronald] Reagan put it, \"is no fair-weather friend but instead is an indispensable partner.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Andrew Humphries, Richard Gibbs, “Operational Implications of Culture”, in Enterprise Relationship Management: A Paradigm for Alliance Success, Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, page 63",
"text": "One respondent to a Gibbs and Humphries's research initiative characterised their senior management as ‘fair weather friends’ – keen to support the partnering initiative on day one and when things are going well, but eager to distance themselves when times got tough.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One who is friendly, helpful, or available only when it is advantageous or convenient to be so."
],
"links": [
[
"friendly",
"friendly"
],
[
"helpful",
"helpful"
],
[
"available",
"available"
],
[
"advantageous",
"advantageous"
],
[
"convenient",
"convenient"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) One who is friendly, helpful, or available only when it is advantageous or convenient to be so."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛəˌwɛðə ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛːˌwɛðə ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈfɛɚˌwɛðɚ ˈfɹɛnd/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-us-fair-weather friend.flac",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac/En-us-fair-weather_friend.flac.ogg",
"tags": [
"General-American"
],
"text": "Audio (GA)"
},
{
"audio": "en-au-fair-weather friend.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/42/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/En-au-fair-weather_friend.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "fair weather friend"
},
{
"word": "fairweather friend"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jiǔròu péngyǒu",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "酒肉朋友"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "hyvän sään ystävä"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Schönwetterfreund"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "amico per convenienza"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "amico di comdo"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"english": "friend by the full bowl",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "draugs pie pilnas bļodas"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"note": "no equivalent term in Polish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"english": "when used ironically",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "but see przyjaciel"
},
{
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "phaslī baṭerā",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ਫਸਲੀ ਬਟੇਰਾ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "drug do pérvoj bedý",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "друг до пе́рвой беды́"
},
{
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "pʉ̂ʉan-gin",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "เพื่อนกิน"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "one who is friendly, etc., only when it is advantageous or convenient",
"word": "iyi gün dostu"
}
],
"word": "fair-weather friend"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.