Ask Difference

Friendship vs. Bond — What's the Difference?

By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 30, 2024
Friendship involves mutual affection and support between individuals, often informal and chosen, whereas a bond refers to a strong connection or obligation, which can be emotional, legal, or financial.
Friendship vs. Bond — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Friendship and Bond

ADVERTISEMENT

Key Differences

Friendship is a relationship based on mutual affection, trust, and support between individuals who choose to spend time together and share experiences. On the other hand, a bond can be an emotional tie, but it also encompasses legal or financial obligations that bind entities or individuals.
Friendships are typically formed voluntarily and are maintained because of shared interests, values, or emotional connections. Whereas bonds can be involuntary, such as familial ties or contractual obligations that require adherence regardless of personal feelings.
In friendship, the connection is often egalitarian, with friends seeing each other as equals. On the other hand, some bonds, like those between a debtor and creditor or between an employer and employee, involve hierarchical relationships.
The maintenance of a friendship requires ongoing communication and mutual effort, emphasizing the reciprocal nature of the relationship. Conversely, bonds, particularly those of a legal or financial nature, can be maintained through formal agreements and do not necessarily require a personal relationship.
While friendships can end if the mutual affection or interest fades, bonds, especially legal or financial ones, usually have defined terms or conditions under which they can be dissolved or altered.
ADVERTISEMENT

Comparison Chart

Basis of relationship

Mutual affection and shared interests
Emotional, legal, or financial obligations

Voluntariness

Formed and maintained voluntarily
Can be voluntary or obligatory

Equality

Often egalitarian
Can be hierarchical

Maintenance

Requires mutual effort and communication
May require formal agreements

Termination

Can end if interest or affection fades
Often has defined conditions for dissolution

Compare with Definitions

Friendship

A bond of mutual trust and respect.
True friendship is built on trust.

Bond

A financial investment involving debt securities.
He invested in government bonds for security.

Friendship

A supportive and caring connection.
He offered his help out of friendship.

Bond

An emotional tie that connects individuals.
The bond between mother and child is incomparable.

Friendship

An informal association between individuals who share common interests.
Their friendship began at a photography class.

Bond

A connection that obligates two or more parties.
The legal bond between the contractor and client was solid.

Friendship

A close and affectionate relationship between two or more people.
Their friendship has grown stronger over the years.

Bond

An agreement with legal force.
She signed a bond that required her presence at every meeting.

Friendship

A voluntary and personal relationship.
She treasures her friendships above all.

Bond

A link formed by a shared experience or trait.
Their bond was formed through mutual hardship.

Friendship

Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association, and has been studied in academic fields such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy.

Bond

Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together.

Friendship

The quality or condition of being friends.

Bond

Often bonds Confinement in prison; captivity.

Friendship

A friendly relationship
Formed new friendships at camp.

Bond

A uniting force or relationship; a link
The familial bond.

Friendship

Friendliness; good will
A policy of friendship toward other nations.

Bond

A binding agreement; a covenant.

Friendship

(uncountable) The condition of being friends.

Bond

A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound.

Friendship

(countable) A friendly relationship, or a relationship as friends.

Bond

A substance or agent that causes two or more objects or parts to cohere.

Friendship

(uncountable) Good will.

Bond

The union or cohesion brought about by such a substance or agent.

Friendship

The state of being friends; friendly relation, or attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from mutual esteem and good will; friendliness; amity; good will.
There is little friendship in the world.
There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.
Preferred by friendship, and not chosen by sufficiency.

Bond

A chemical bond.

Friendship

Kindly aid; help; assistance,
Some friendship will it [a hovel] lend you gainst the tempest.

Bond

A systematically overlapping or alternating arrangement of bricks or stones in a wall, designed to increase strength and stability.

Friendship

Aptness to unite; conformity; affinity; harmony; correspondence.
Those colors . . . have a friendship with each other.

Bond

A written obligation requiring the payment of a sum at a certain time.

Friendship

The state of being friends

Bond

A debt security obligating a government or corporation to pay a specified amount on a future date, especially a marketable security that makes semiannual interest payments.

Bond

A guarantee issued by a surety agency on behalf of a client, requiring the surety to pay a sum of money to a third party in the event the client fails to fulfill certain obligations; a surety bond.

Bond

A sum pledged as a guarantee.

Bond

A sum paid as a guarantee of a person's appearance at court for trial; bail
Set bond at $100,000.
Released the prisoner on a $10,000 bond.

Bond

The condition of being held under the guarantee of a customs bond
Imported merchandise stored in bond.

Bond

An insurance contract that indemnifies an employer for loss resulting from a fraudulent or dishonest act by an employee; a fidelity bond.

Bond

Bond paper.

Bond

To join securely, as with glue or cement.

Bond

To join (two or more individuals) in a relationship, as by shared belief or experience
An interest in banking reform bonded the two political opponents.

Bond

To finance by issuing bonds
Two projects have already been bonded.

Bond

To raise by issuing bonds
The city bonded $900,000 for the new park.

Bond

To gain the release of (someone who has been arrested) by providing a bail bond
Bonded his cousin out of jail.

Bond

To issue a surety bond or a fidelity bond for.

Bond

To lay (bricks or stones) in an overlapping or alternating pattern.

Bond

To cohere with a bond.

Bond

To form a close personal relationship.

Bond

To secure release from prison by providing a bail bond
The accused bonded out of jail.

Bond

(legal) Evidence of a long-term debt, by which the bond issuer (the borrower) is obliged to pay interest when due, and repay the principal at maturity, as specified on the face of the bond certificate. The rights of the holder are specified in the bond indenture, which contains the legal terms and conditions under which the bond was issued. Bonds are available in two forms: registered bonds, and bearer bonds.

Bond

(finance) A documentary obligation to pay a sum or to perform a contract; a debenture.
Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
Many say that government and corporate bonds are a good investment to balance against a portfolio consisting primarily of stocks.

Bond

A partial payment made to show a provider that the customer is sincere about buying a product or a service. If the product or service is not purchased the customer then forfeits the bond.

Bond

A physical connection which binds, a band.
The prisoner was brought before the tribunal in iron bonds.

Bond

An emotional link, connection or union; that which holds two or more people together, as in a friendship; a tie.
They had grown up as friends and neighbors, and not even vastly differing political views could break the bond of their friendship.

Bond

Moral or political duty or obligation.

Bond

(chemistry) A link or force between neighbouring atoms in a molecule.
Organic chemistry primarily consists of the study of carbon bonds, in their many variations.

Bond

A binding agreement, a covenant.
You could rely on him. His word was his bond.
Herbert resented his wife for subjecting him to the bonds of matrimony; he claimed they had gotten married while drunk.

Bond

A bail bond.
The bailiff released the prisoner as soon as the bond was posted.

Bond

Any constraining or cementing force or material.
A bond of superglue adhered the teacups to the ceiling, much to the consternation of the cafe owners.

Bond

(construction) In building, a specific pattern of bricklaying, based on overlapping rows or layers to give strength.

Bond

(Scotland) A mortgage.

Bond

(railways) A heavy copper wire or rod connecting adjacent rails of an electric railway track when used as a part of the electric circuit.

Bond

A peasant; churl.

Bond

A vassal; serf; one held in bondage to a superior.

Bond

(transitive) To connect, secure or tie with a bond; to bind.
The gargantuan ape was bonded in iron chains and carted onto the stage.

Bond

(transitive) To cause to adhere (one material with another).
The children bonded their snapshots to the scrapbook pages with mucilage.

Bond

To form a chemical compound with.
Under unusual conditions, even gold can be made to bond with other elements.

Bond

(transitive) To guarantee or secure a financial risk.
The contractor was bonded with a local underwriter.

Bond

To form a friendship or emotional connection.
The men had bonded while serving together in Vietnam.

Bond

(transitive) To put in a bonded warehouse; to secure (goods) until the associated duties are paid.

Bond

To lay bricks in a specific pattern.

Bond

To make a reliable electrical connection between two conductors (or any pieces of metal that may potentially become conductors).
A house's distribution panel should always be bonded to the grounding rods via a panel bond.

Bond

To bail out by means of a bail bond.

Bond

Subject to the tenure called bondage.

Bond

In a state of servitude or slavedom; not free.

Bond

Servile; slavish; pertaining to or befitting a slave.
Bond fear

Bond

That which binds, ties, fastens, or confines, or by which anything is fastened or bound, as a cord, chain, etc.; a band; a ligament; a shackle or a manacle.
Gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,I gained my freedom.

Bond

The state of being bound; imprisonment; captivity, restraint.

Bond

A binding force or influence; a cause of union; a uniting tie; as, the bonds of fellowship.
A people with whom I have no tie but the common bond of mankind.

Bond

Moral or political duty or obligation.
I love your majestyAccording to my bond, nor more nor less.

Bond

A writing under seal, by which a person binds himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, to pay a certain sum on or before a future day appointed. This is a single bond. But usually a condition is added, that, if the obligor shall do a certain act, appear at a certain place, conform to certain rules, faithfully perform certain duties, or pay a certain sum of money, on or before a time specified, the obligation shall be void; otherwise it shall remain in full force. If the condition is not performed, the bond becomes forfeited, and the obligor and his heirs are liable to the payment of the whole sum.

Bond

A financial instrument (of the nature of the ordinary legal bond) made by a government or a corporation for purpose of borrowing money; a written promise to pay a specific sum of money on or before a specified day, given in return for a sum of money; as, a government, city, or railway bond.

Bond

The state of goods placed in a bonded warehouse till the duties are paid; as, merchandise in bond.

Bond

The union or tie of the several stones or bricks forming a wall. The bricks may be arranged for this purpose in several different ways, as in English bond or block bond (Fig. 1), where one course consists of bricks with their ends toward the face of the wall, called headers, and the next course of bricks with their lengths parallel to the face of the wall, called stretchers; Flemish bond (Fig.2), where each course consists of headers and stretchers alternately, so laid as always to break joints; Cross bond, which differs from the English by the change of the second stretcher line so that its joints come in the middle of the first, and the same position of stretchers comes back every fifth line; Combined cross and English bond, where the inner part of the wall is laid in the one method, the outer in the other.

Bond

A unit of chemical attraction between atoms; as, oxygen has two bonds of affinity. Also called chemical bond. It is often represented in graphic formulæ by a short line or dash. See Diagram of Benzene nucleus, and Valence. Several types of bond are distinguished by chemists, as double bond, triple bond, covalent bond, hydrogen bond.

Bond

A heavy copper wire or rod connecting adjacent rails of an electric railway track when used as a part of the electric circuit.

Bond

League; association; confederacy.
The Africander Bond, a league or association appealing to African, but practically to Boer, patriotism.

Bond

A vassal or serf; a slave.

Bond

To place under the conditions of a bond; to mortgage; to secure the payment of the duties on (goods or merchandise) by giving a bond.

Bond

To dispose in building, as the materials of a wall, so as to secure solidity.

Bond

In a state of servitude or slavery; captive.
By one Spirit are we all baptized . . . whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free.

Bond

An electrical force linking atoms

Bond

A certificate of debt (usually interest-bearing or discounted) that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money; the issuer is required to pay a fixed sum annually until maturity and then a fixed sum to repay the principal

Bond

A connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest;
The shifting alliances within a large family
Their friendship constitutes a powerful bond between them

Bond

(criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial;
The judge set bail at $10,000
A $10,000 bond was furnished by an alderman

Bond

A restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner)

Bond

A connection that fastens things together

Bond

A superior quality of strong durable white writing paper; originally made for printing documents

Bond

United States civil rights leader who was elected to the legislature in Georgia but was barred from taking his seat because he opposed the Vietnam War (born 1940)

Bond

British secret operative 007 in novels by Ian Fleming

Bond

The property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition

Bond

Stick to firmly;
Will this wallpaper adhere to the wall?

Bond

Create social or emotional ties;
The grandparents want to bond with the child

Bond

Issue bonds on

Bond

Bring together in a common cause or emotion;
The death of their child had drawn them together

Bond

Held in slavery;
Born of enslaved parents

Common Curiosities

What defines a friendship?

A friendship is defined by voluntary, mutual affection and shared experiences among individuals.

Is it possible to have a friendship without an emotional bond?

Generally, friendships inherently include an emotional bond through mutual affection.

What role does trust play in both friendships and bonds?

Trust is crucial in friendships for maintaining the relationship, and in bonds, especially legal ones, to ensure compliance and reliability.

How does a bond differ from a friendship in terms of formation?

A bond can be formed both voluntarily and involuntarily, including emotional, legal, or financial ties, unlike a friendship which is always voluntary.

Can a friendship become a bond?

Yes, friendships can deepen into emotional bonds that are powerful and enduring.

What is an example of a legal bond?

A mortgage agreement between a borrower and a lender is an example of a legal bond.

Can a bond exist without personal interaction?

Yes, especially in the case of financial or legal bonds, personal interaction is not necessary.

What makes a friendship endurable?

Mutual effort, communication, and shared values help make a friendship durable.

How can friendships impact mental health?

Friendships can significantly enhance mental health by providing emotional support and reducing feelings of loneliness.

Are all bonds legally binding?

Not all bonds are legally binding; some are purely emotional or social, like those formed in communities or families.

What happens when a bond is broken?

Breaking a bond, depending on its nature, can result in emotional distress, or in legal or financial penalties.

How do friendships influence social behavior?

Friendships influence social behavior by encouraging social interaction, cooperation, and empathy among individuals.

Share Your Discovery

Share via Social Media
Embed This Content
Embed Code
Share Directly via Messenger
Link
Previous Comparison
Advocate vs. Jurist
Next Comparison
Canon vs. Prebendary

Author Spotlight

Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj Arif
Urooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.

Popular Comparisons

Trending Comparisons

New Comparisons

Trending Terms