associate vs friend

associate

noun
  • Somebody with whom one works, coworker, colleague. 

  • A companion; a comrade. 

  • One that habitually accompanies or is associated with another; an attendant circumstance. 

  • A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner. 

  • One of a pair of elements of an integral domain (or a ring) such that the two elements are divisible by each other (or, equivalently, such that each one can be expressed as the product of the other with a unit). 

  • A member of an institution or society who is granted only partial status or privileges. 

verb
  • To connect or join together; combine. 

  • To join as a partner, ally, or friend. 

  • To endorse. 

  • To join in or form a league, union, or association. 

  • To spend time socially; keep company. 

  • To be associative. 

  • To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination. 

adj
  • Joined with another or others and having lower status. 

  • Having partial status or privileges. 

  • Following or accompanying; concomitant. 

friend

noun
  • An associate who provides assistance. 

  • A lover; a boyfriend or girlfriend. 

  • Used as a form of address when warning someone. 

  • A spring-loaded camming device. 

  • A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted. 

  • A person who backs or supports something. 

  • A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection. 

  • Used to refer collectively to a group of associated individuals, especially those comprising a cast, company, or crew 

  • A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class. 

  • An object or idea that can be used for good. 

verb
  • To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend. 

How often have the words associate and friend occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )