English
like
see also: Like
Pronunciation
  • enPR: līk, IPA: /laɪ̯k/
  • (MLE, Jamaica) IPA: /læ̙ːk/, /lɑːk/
  • (DE) IPA: /lɔɪ̯k/
Etymology 1

Verb from Middle English liken, from Old English līcian, from Proto-West Germanic *līkēn, from Proto-Germanic *līkāną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian liekje, Dutch lijken, nds-de lieken, German gleichen, Swedish lika, Norwegian like, Icelandic líka.

Noun from Middle English like, from the verb Middle English liken.

Verb

like (likes, present participle liking; simple past and past participle liked)

  1. To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.
    Antonyms: dislike, hate, mislike
    I like hamburgers.
    I like skiing in winter.
    I like the Seattle Mariners this season.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC ↗, book I, page 21 ↗:
      He may either go or stay, as he best likes.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗:
      At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
  2. (transitive, archaic) To please.
    • 16th century, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia‎:
      I willingly confess that it likes me much better when I find virtue in a fair lodging than when I am bound to seek it in an ill-favoured creature.
  3. (obsolete) To derive pleasure of, by or with someone or something.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗, page 2 ↗:
      He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
  4. To prefer and maintain (an action) as a regular habit or activity.
    I like to go to the dentist every six months.
    She likes to keep herself physically fit.
    we like to keep one around the office just in case.
  5. (obsolete) To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to be (in a specified condition).
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iv]:
      You like well, and bear your years very well.
  6. (archaic) To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape narrowly.
    He liked to have been too late.
  7. To find attractive; to prefer the company of; to have mild romantic feelings for.
    Synonyms: fancy, enjoy, love
    Antonyms: dislike, hate, mislike
    I really like Sandra but don't know how to tell her.
  8. (obsolete) To liken; to compare.
  9. (Internet, transitive) To show support for, or approval of, something posted on the Internet by marking it with a vote.
    Antonyms: unlike#Verb, dislike#Verb
    Coordinate terms: heart, love
    I liked my friend's last status on Facebook.
    I can't stand Bloggs' tomato ketchup, but I liked it on Facebook so I could enter a competition.
  10. (with 'would' and in certain other phrases) To want, desire. See also would like.
    Would you like a cigarette?
    We could go to the museum if you like.
    I don't like to disturb him when he's working.
  11. Of inanimate objects:
    1. (informal, personification) To be prone to.
      Too bad this cheese likes to stick to the pan and ruin the whole meal.
    2. (informal, usually in the negative) Of a computer or other system: to tolerate as an input; to accept.
      This self-service checkout doesn't seem to like my credit card.
      We were frustrated that our seeming innocent choice for a team name was rejected by the game. Apparently somewhere in the name is a word that the algorithm doesn’t like.
      email delivery failed: remote host does not like recipient
Related terms Translations Translations Translations Noun

like (plural likes)

  1. (chiefly, in the plural) Something that a person likes (prefers).
    Synonyms: favorite, preference
    Antonyms: dislike, pet hate, pet peeve
    Tell me your likes and dislikes.
  2. (internet) An individual vote showing support for, approval of, or enjoyment of, something posted on the Internet.
Translations Translations Etymology 2

Adjective from Middle English lik, lyk, lich, like, from Old English ġelīċ by shortening, influenced by Old Norse líkr, glíkr; both from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz.

Adverb from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, from Old English ġelīċe and Old Norse líka; both from Proto-Germanic *galīkê, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz.

Conjunction from Middle English like, lyke, lik, lyk, from the adverb Middle English like.

Preposition from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, lijc, liih, from Middle English like and like.

Adjective

like

  1. Similar.
    My partner and I have like minds.
    The two cats were as like as though they had come from the same litter.
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      It will seem strange that in all this time the Presbytery was idle, and no effort was made to rid the place of so fell an influence. But there was a reason, and the reason, as in most like cases, was a lassie.
    • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 3, Landlord Edmund”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC ↗, book II (The Ancient Monk):
      […] and this is not a sky, it is a Soul and living Face! Nothing liker the Temple of the Highest, bright with some real effulgence of the Highest, is seen in this world.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
      I opened the man's linen robe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath the woman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life had ebbed away.
  2. (archaic or Scotland, Southern US) Likely; probable.
    • 1668, Robert South, The Messiah's Sufferings for the Sins of the People (sermon, March 20, 1668)
      But it is like the jolly world about us will scoff at the paradox of these practices.
    • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:
      Many were […] not easy to be govern'd, nor like to conform themselves to such strict rules.
    • 1726 October 27, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver's Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC ↗, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 151 ↗:
      Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our Sprit-ſail, and ſtood by to hand the Fore-ſail; but making foul Weather, we look'd the Guns were all faſt, and handed the Miſſen.
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      She had waited overlong, and now it was like that Ailie would escape her toils.
  3. (Scotland, Southern US, otherwise, archaic, usually with to) inclined (to), prone (to).
    He seems like to run from any semblance of hard work.
Related terms Translations Adverb

like

  1. (obsolete, colloquial) Likely.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:
      DON PEDRO. May be she doth but counterfeit.
      CLAUDIO. Faith, like enough.
      Indeed, quite likely.
  2. (archaic or rare) In a like or similar manner.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Psalms 103:13 ↗:
      Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
Noun

like

  1. (sometimes as the likes of) Someone similar to a given person, or something similar to a given object; a comparative; a type; a sort.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "Such things do happen and centre round the wicked medium. You can get down into a region which is akin to the popular idea of witchcraft, it is dishonest to deny it." "Like attracts like," explained Mrs. Mailey[.]
    • 1935, Winston Churchill on T.E. Lawrence
      We shall never see his like again.
    There were bowls full of sweets, chocolates and the like.
    It was something the likes of which I had never seen before.
  2. (golf) The stroke that equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side.
    to play the like
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Conjunction

See Usage notes below.

  1. (colloquial) As, the way.
    • 1966, Advertising slogan for Winston cigarettes
      Winston tastes good like a cigarette should
    • 1978, Bob Dylan, Do Unto Others:
      But if you do right to me, baby
      I’ll do right to you, too
      Ya got to do unto others
      Like you’d have them, like you’d have them, do unto you
  2. (usually, colloquial) As if; as though.
    It looks like you've finished the project.
    It seemed like you didn't care.
Preposition
  1. Similar to, reminiscent of
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:
      When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.
  2. Typical of
    It would be just like Achilles to be sulking in his tent.
  3. Approximating
    Popcorn costs something like $10 dollars at the movies.
  4. In the manner of, similarly to
    He doesn't act like a president.
  5. Such as
    It's for websites like Wikipedia.
  6. As if there would be
    It looks like a hot summer in Europe.
  7. Used to ask for a description or opinion of someone or something
    I hear she has a new boyfriend. What's he like?
    What's the weather like in Ürümqi today?
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Particle
  1. Likely.
    • 1909, Mark Twain, Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven:
      “You'll try it, some day, like enough; but you'll get tired of the change pretty soon.” “Why?” “Well, I'll tell you. Now you've always been a sailor; did you ever try some other business?”
  2. (colloquial, Scotland, Ireland, Geordie, Teesside, Scouse) A delayed filler.
    He was so angry, like.
  3. (colloquial) Indicating approximation or uncertainty.
    There were, like, twenty of them.
    She was, like, sooooo happy.
  4. (colloquial) Used to precede an approximate quotation or paraphrase or an expression of something that happened.
    I was like, “Why did you do that?” and he's like, “I don't know.”
    And then he, like, got all angry and left the room.
    A customer walked in like, "I demand to see the manager!"
    • 2006, Lily Allen, Knock 'Em Out:
      You're just doing your own thing and some one comes out the blue,
      They're like, "Alright"
      What ya saying, "Yeah can I take your digits?"
      And you're like, "no not in a million years, you're nasty please leave me alone."
Synonyms Translations Translations Etymology 3

From like and like.

Verb

like (likes, present participle liking; simple past and past participle liked)

  1. (chiefly dialectal, intransitive) To be likely.
    • 1837, Earl of Orford Walpole (Horace), Correspondence with George Montagu:
      He probably got his death, as he liked to have done two years ago, by viewing the troops for the expedition, from the wall of Kensington garden.
Like
Etymology

From the Dutch - surname, probably a variant of Luik, a city in Belgium.

Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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