false friends are worse than open enemies
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People who pretend to be friends but harm you are more dangerous than obvious enemies
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Kẻ giả vờ là bạn nhưng gây hại nguy hiểm hơn kẻ thù rõ ràng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “false friends are worse than open enemies” mean?
People who pretend to be friends but harm you are more dangerous than obvious enemies
Is “false friends are worse than open enemies” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.