FromMiddle Englishunlic,unlich, fromOld Englishunlīċ,unġelīċ(“unlike, different, dissimilar, diverse”), fromProto-Germanic*ungalīkaz. Bysurface analysis,un- +like. Cognate withDutchongelijk,Germanungleich,Old Norseúlíkr(see there for North Germanic descendants).
unlike (comparativemoreunlike,superlativemostunlike)
- Not like;dissimilar (to); having no resemblance; unalike.
The brothers are quiteunlike each other.
1927, G. K. Chesterton,What I saw in America, page45:It may be conjectured with some confidence that it is veryunlike what is called the Wild and sometimes the Woolly West, which I did not see.
- Unequal.
They contributed inunlike amounts.
1906,Railway master mechanic, volume30, page111:The earth isunlike the wire in size, resistance, and carrying capacity. Hence, telephone service calk for two wires of equal size, resistance, and carrying capacity.
1909, John Spargo,Socialism: a summary and interpretation of socialist principles, page241:Commodities utterlyunlike each other in all apparent physical properties, such as color, weight, size, shape, substance,
1928, Emory Richard Johnson with Grover Gerhardt Huebner and George Lloyd Wilson,Principles of transportation:Reduction in time makes possible more frequent steamship services, more rapid delivery and lower operating costs. The actual economy effected is different for vessels ofunlike speed and types.
2005, Stephen Frey,The Insider:At the Bank of Zurich, Savoy deposited the fifteen million francs into two separate accounts inunlike amounts — so that authorities wouldn't see the same amount coming out of Bank Suisse and being deposited minutes later at the Bank of Zurich.
2006, George W. Hartmann with Albert T. Poffenberger,Gestalt Psychology: A Survey of Facts and Principles, page86:Thus two objects ofunlike size but equal weights are judged to differ in weight, the smaller being the heavier (size-weight illusion).
- (archaic) Not likely;improbable;unlikely.
unlike
- Different from; not in a like or similar manner.
The disgust I felt after watching last weekend's horror movie wasunlike anything I had felt before.
1995 Fall, Marcia Guthridge, “Henry V, Part 2”, inParis Review, volume37, number136, page176:Hal kept pace beside her in his ambling, arm-swinging way. He walkedunlike other men she knew, like someone who had never carried a briefcase.
1999 December, Joe Oldham, “Design & Engineering Awards 2000”, inPopular Mechanics, volume176, number12, page67:These drugs workunlike any medicine ever created.
2005 February 23, “Four-Year Old Abstract Artist Discussed, Jesse James Profiled”, inCBS Sixty Minutes:She goes to preschool, plays with dolls, and she loves to draw and paint. But Marla paintsunlike any other four-year-old in the world.
- In contrast with; as opposed to.
Claudia hardly ever drinks beer or wine,unlike Phillip, for whom the bar is practically a second home.
1999, Philip Spencer with Glenn M. Zakaib[b], “Product liability aspects of the risks of technological change - a Canadian perspective.”, inCanada-United States Law Journal, volume25, page125:Canadians can not bring a "national" piece of litigation,unlike what can be done in the United States.
2009 February 10, Nelson Pressley, “Signature Laps The Field With 39 Hayes Noms”, inWashington Post, pageC01:Unlike the elbows-out jostling in New York, there will be no campaigning:
2023 November 29, Peter Plisner, “The winds of change in Catesby Tunnel”, inRAIL, number997, page56:Butunlike many other tunnels that lay idle and decaying, Catesby has now found a new use as an aerodynamic wind tunnel for the motor industry.
- Not typical of one's character or personality.
Being late isunlike him.
in contrast with; as opposed to
unlike (pluralunlikes)
- Something that is not like something else; something different.
- 2012, J. Bogen, J. E. McGuire,How Things Are: Studies in Predication and the History of Philosophy and Science
- If the beings are many, then they must be likes andunlikes. But this is impossible, forunlikes cannot be likes, and likes cannot beunlikes.
FromMiddle Englishunliken,unlyken, equivalent toun- +like.
unlike (third-person singular simple presentunlikes,present participleunliking,simple past and past participleunliked)
- Todislike.
1603,Francis Bacon, “Of the Interpretation of Nature”, inThe Works of Francis Bacon, translation of original by Valerius Terminus, page136:The incounters of the times have been nothing favourable and prosperous for the invention of knowledge, so as it is not only the daintiness of the seed to take, and the ill mixture andunliking of the ground to nourish or raise this plant, but the ill season also of the weather, by which it hath been checked and blasted.
1862,The Scottish Congregational Magazine, page247:We are not insensible of the fact that these principles ever will beunliked by the men of tho world
2006, Steve Amick,The Lake, the River & the Other Lake, page38:"He doesn't seem to beunliked by anyone, no." Scott's lawyerly impulse was to dismiss any and all advice or speculation made by this woman who used "unliked" rather than "disliked"
2007, Marvin Kaye,The Fair Folk:Certainly nobody spoke to me, though plenty of them gave me anunliking look.
- (Internet) Towithdraw support for a particular thing, especially onsocial networking websites.
Iunliked the post after I found out the author was racist.
- 2009,Ben Zimmer, “On Language: The Age of Undoing”, inThe New York Times Magazine, 2009 September 20, page MM8:
- Facebook, for instance, allows you to register approval for a posted message in a very concrete way, by clicking a thumbs-uplike button. Toggling off the button results inunliking your previouslyliked item. Note that this is different fromdisliking something, sinceunliking simply returns you to a neutral state.
2010 June 25, TheKorn, “Re: Pinball: RGP and/or Facebook”, inrec.games.pinball[1] (Usenet):My comment was more of a backhanded slap at Stern Pinball's Facebook "presence", specifically the garbage "cheap heat" posts.[…] It's so inane (and now, so constant) that I wound up "unliking" stern pinball entirely.
To withdraw support for a particular thing
unlike (pluralunlikes)
- (Internet) The act of withdrawing one'slike from apost onsocial media.
2012, Jesse Cannon, Todd Thomas,Get More Fans, page552:Getting anunlike for every 20 likes is common and not something you need to be losing sleep over.
2014, Ekaterina Walter, Jessica Gioglio,The Power of Visual Storytelling, page13:On Facebook, users can also hide anyone in their network, including companies, from their News Feed, which is worse than anunlike, as brands cannot measure how many people still like them but have hidden their status updates[…]
