with friends like these, who needs enemies
/ˌwɪθ fɹɛn(d)z laɪk ðiːz ˌhu niːdz ˈɛnəmiːz/
with friends like these, who needs enemies phrase: indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents.
Phrase
with friends like these, who needs enemies?
- Indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents.
- Three years ago Elaine Noble came out to San Francisco and campaigned against Harvey Milk, at the behest of Foster and David Goodstein. These people now have the gall to take Harvey's name in vain. With "friends" like these, who needs enemies? Hypocrites!1979 August 11, John Kyper, “Gay Shame!”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 4, page 5
Forms of with friends like these, who needs enemies
| alternative form | with friends like these who needs enemies |
|---|---|
| alternative form | with friends like those, who needs enemies |
| alternative form | with friends like those who needs enemies |
| alternative form | with friends like that, who needs enemies |
Origin of with friends like these, who needs enemies
The Yale Book of Quotations cites American comedian Joey Adams as the originator of this line.
Questions about with friends like these, who needs enemies
- What does with friends like these, who needs enemies mean?
- With friends like these, who needs enemies means indicating that one's close associates prove more adversarial than one's opponents.
- What part of speech is with friends like these, who needs enemies?
- With friends like these, who needs enemies is a phrase.
- How do you pronounce with friends like these, who needs enemies?
- With friends like these, who needs enemies is pronounced /ˌwɪθ fɹɛn(d)z laɪk ðiːz ˌhu niːdz ˈɛnəmiːz/.
Words near with friends like these, who needs enemies in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: with friends like these, who needs enemies (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “with friends like these, who needs enemies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/with_friends_like_these%2C_who_needs_enemies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.