dislike
Americanverb (used with object)
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dislikes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disliked,
past participle, past
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disliking
present participle
noun
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dislikes
plural
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
Dislike, disgust, distaste, repugnance imply antipathy toward something. Dislike is a general word, sometimes connoting an inherent or permanent feeling of antipathy for something: to have a dislike for crowds. Disgust connotes a feeling of loathing for what is offensive to the feelings and sensibilities: He felt disgust at seeing such ostentation. Distaste implies a more or less settled dislike: to have distaste for spicy foods, for hard work. Repugnance is a strong feeling of aversion for, and antagonism toward, something: to feel repugnance for (or toward ) low criminals.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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predislikenoun
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self-dislikenoun
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dislikableadjective
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dislikeableadjective
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self-dislikedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dislikesimple
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dislikessimple
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have dislikedperfect
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has dislikedperfect
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am dislikingprogressive
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are dislikingprogressive
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is dislikingprogressive
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have been dislikingperfect progressive
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has been dislikingperfect progressive
Past
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dislikedsimple
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had dislikedperfect
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was dislikingprogressive
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were dislikingprogressive
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had been dislikingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dislike
Explanation
Put simply, to dislike can be used as a transitive verb that means to "not like." Maybe you dislike spinach. But it can also be a noun, as in "You seem to have developed quite a dislike for spinach." English being a language of trial-and-error, the word dislike came about in the mid-16th Century, as modern English was still in its infancy. At that time, some words were tried and discarded, to be replaced with others that stuck. That was the case with dislike, which developed after the word "mislike" was dropped as the opposite of "like." Speaking of prefixes, don't confuse the word dislike with "unlike," which means that something is different from something else.
Vocabulary lists containing dislike
Power Prefix: dis-
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dis-
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: dis-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While some presidents have clearly enjoyed Camp David more than others, Trump has made no secret of his deep dislike of it.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
From villages deep in the Amazon rainforest to the agricultural heartlands in the south and sprawling urban favelas, Brazilians are facing a familiar cast -- with many forced to pick who they least dislike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
In addition to uniting creators who often disagreed, dislike of data centers and AI traveled into corners of TikTok that rarely touch politics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
What should you do if you dislike your friend's partner?
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Oh, I will. As soon as I find the specific sheep that contributed to my diminishing dislike of winter, I plan to write a thank-you note.”
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Cage solved my next problem by insisting that the way to discover new things is to overcome our dependence on our likes and dislikes, those supposed pillars of criticism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
“Whether or not someone dislikes rankings, one has to acknowledge that there are huge differences in how universities educate students,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
“Road Runner admits that he sees Coyote, even whenever Wile E. dislikes him or doesn’t think that he’s looking. It’s so nice to be seen like that.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
"The challenge goes way beyond just putting AI into a robot," said Lian Jye Su from technology research group Omdia, who dislikes the term "physical AI" for downplaying the complexity of the hardware solutions needed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
And this is maybe the thing El dislikes most about me.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Social media companies are broadly disliked, even while their products remain wildly popular.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Brolin explained exactly what he disliked about the neighborhood, noting: “I like a little grit. You know what I mean? There’s not a lot of grit in Sandy Springs.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
She’s won praise for removing a widely disliked Xbox AI assistant and making it easier for people who own games on discs to get digital copies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The 30-year-old told AFP in Venice she disliked fame and celebrity, but Gyllenhaal tipped her for even greater success.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
It was one thing to be disliked, but I imagine it must really smart to find yourself repeatedly taken advantage of.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
"People are increasingly disliking each other," says Prof Sander van der Linden, who researches social psychology at the University of Cambridge.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
When the bubble is big enough, it shifts the behavior of the market as a whole from disliking capital expenditure, and hating speculative capital spending in particular, to loving it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
Some readers confessed to never having seen the film whose soundtrack they love; others even reported disliking it.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2024
“This idea of disliking your boss and hating your job is as old as time,” Anicich said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
There was never any question of my disliking Mr. Freeman, I simply didn’t understand him either.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
