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-like. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-like, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-like in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-like you have here. The definition of the word
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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
- 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?
- (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
- Alternative form of -ly (“adjectival suffix”)
Etymology 2
Suffix
-like
- Alternative form of -ly (“adverbial suffix”)