unlike
/ʌnˈlaɪk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.57 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not like; dissimilar (to); having no resemblance; unalike.
adj
prep
In contrast with; as opposed to.
prep
Not typical of one's character or personality.
noun
Something that is not like something else; something different.
verb
To dislike.
Example Sentences
- "The brothers are quite unlike each other."
- "It may be conjectured with some confidence that it is very unlike what is called the Wild and sometimes the Woolly West, which I did not see."
- "They contributed in unlike amounts."
- "The earth is unlike the wire in size, resistance, and carrying capacity. Hence, telephone service calk for two wires of equal size, resistance, and carrying capacity."
- "Commodities utterly unlike each other in all apparent physical properties, such as color, weight, size, shape, substance,"
- "Reduction in time makes possible more frequent steamship services, more rapid delivery and lower operating costs. The actual economy effected is different for vessels of unlike speed and types."
Etymology
From Middle English unlic, unlich, from Old English unlīċ, unġelīċ (“unlike, different, dissimilar, diverse”), from Proto-Germanic *ungalīkaz. By surface analysis, un- + like. Cognate with Dutch ongelijk, German ungleich, Old Norse úlíkr (see there for North Germanic descendants).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
more unlike (comparative)
most unlike (superlative)
unlikes (plural)
unlikes (present, singular)
unliking (participle, present)
unliked (participle, past)
unliked (past)