like
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: līk
ipa: /laɪ̯k/
ipa: /læ̙ːk/
ipa: /lɑːk/
ipa: /lɔɪ̯k/
ipa: /lʌɪk/
ipa: [ləi̯k]
rhymes: -aɪk
Forms: form: likes
form: lak
Etymology: 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 (“like, similar, same”). Related to alike; more distantly, with lich and -ly. Cognate with West Frisian like (“like; as”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”) Swedish lik (“like, similar”)
Adverb from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, from Old English ġelīċe (“likewise, also, as, in like manner, similarly”) and Old Norse líka (“also, likewise”); both from Proto-Germanic *galīkê, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“same, like, similar”).
Conjunction from Middle English like, lyke, lik, lyk, from the adverb Middle English like.
Preposition from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, lijc, liih (“similar to, like, equal to, comparable with”), from Middle English like (adjective) and like (adverb).
Senses: examples: text: There were bowls full of sweets, chocolates and the like.
text: This is something the likes of which I've never seen before, and we should compare like with like instead.
text: "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[.]
ref: 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:
text: 1935, Winston Churchill on T.E. Lawrence
We shall never see his like again.
text: It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July the 26th was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth.
ref: 1945 August 6, Harry S. Truman, 01:49 from the start, in VT2008-9-2 President Truman Announces Bombing of Hiroshima, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 23630, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2021:
text: In fact it would be fair to say that he had reached a level of annoyance the like of which had never been seen in the Universe.
ref: 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 93:
text: The manifesto talks of safeguards to ensure that freight operators receive fair access to the network. These may be reassuring words for the likes of DB Cargo, but the devil will be in the detail and freight operators will no doubt be pressing for that detail to include cheaper electricity and access charges.
ref: 2024 October 30, Andy Comfort, “Can the Royal Mail trains keep on running?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 61:
glosses: Someone similar to a given person, or something similar to a given object; a comparative; a type; a sort.
raw_tags: as the likes of
examples: text: to play the like
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The stroke that equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side.
Synonyms: ilk
Derived terms: and the like
like-for-like
likeless