Be friendly
Keep and be friendly are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Keep" instead a verb phrase "Be friendly".
Keep
Keep verb - To mark with an appropriate practice, rite, or ceremony.
Be friendly and keep are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Be friendly" instead a verb "Keep".
Both terms in one sentence
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Trying to be friendly, they kept telling him to remain hopeful and "keep his pecker up".
Source: My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels -
Ivanov pretends to be friendly to his captives and is almost cartoonishly chivalrous toward Zula, but she realizes that it's just a ploy to keep them docile and helpful.
Source: Literature / Reamde -
This is later qualified when greater exposure introduces them to the concept that some humans can be friendly (and the Gliders have basically a tribe of 'tame' humans living at the foot of their mountain), but by and large the elven policy remains to keep avoiding human attention where possible.
Source: Humans Are the Real Monsters
Cite this Source
Keep and Be friendly. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 01, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/be_friendly/keep
Be friendly & Keep. N.p., 2016. Web. 01 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/be_friendly/keep>.
Keep or Be friendly. 2016. Accessed August 01, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/be_friendly/keep.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "be friendly" and "keep" have occurred on timeline