-like

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See also: like, liké, lìkè, and lǐkē

English

Etymology

From Middle English -like, -lik, from Middle English like, lik (same, similar, alike), from Old English ġelīc and Old Norse líkr (same, similar, alike). Reinforced by like (preposition). Doublet of -ly. Compare also Dutch -lijk (-ly, -like).

Suffix

-like

  1. Resembling, having some of the characteristics of (used to form adjectives from nouns).
    a childlike voice
    snake-like coils of rope
    • 1996, Kevin Siembieda, Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game page 128 under "Dark"
      Damage: Those with normal, human-like vision are blind
    • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
      What other television show would feature a gorgeously designed sequence where a horrifically mutated Pierre and Marie Curie, their bodies swollen to Godzilla-like proportions from prolonged exposure to the radiation that would eventually kill them, destroy an Asian city with their bare hands like vengeance-crazed monster-Gods?
  2. (dialectal) Used to form adverbs from adjectives or nouns; alternative of -ly.

Usage notes

Words formed with like are often spelled with a hyphen. This is particularly the case with British spelling more so than American spelling, where it is somewhat more common to form the word without a hyphen.

Synonyms

Note: the suffixes below cannot necessarily replace "-like", but are also used to form words having the same sense as words formed using "-like".

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology 1

Suffix

-like

  1. Alternative form of -ly (adjectival suffix)

Etymology 2

Suffix

-like

  1. Alternative form of -ly (adverbial suffix)