Idioms about like
Origin of like
1usage note for like
The strong strictures against the use of like as a conjunction have resulted in the occasional hypercorrect use of as as a preposition where like is idiomatic: She looks as a sympathetic person.
Like meaning “as if” is also standard in informal speech and writing with a small number of adjectives: The crew worked like crazy (or like mad ) to finish the job on time. See also as.
OTHER WORDS FROM like
liker, nounOther definitions for like (2 of 3)
Origin of like
2Other definitions for like (3 of 3)
WORDS THAT USE -LIKE
What does -like mean?
The suffix –like means “like,” in the sense “of the same form, appearance, kind, character, amount, etc.” It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms. In some instances, –like is used with a hyphen, as in animal-like.
The suffix –like comes from Middle English lik and is closely related to the suffix –ly.
Examples of -like
An example of a word you may have encountered that features –like is businesslike, “conforming to, attending to, or characteristic of business.”
The element business– here means, naturally, “business.” The suffix –like means “of a character.” Businesslike literally means “in the character of a business” or, put another way, “professional.”
What are some words that use the combining form –like?
- catlike
- doglike
- homelike
- jawlike
- machinelike
- manlike (using the equivalent form of –like in Middle English)
- starlike
What are some other forms that –like may be commonly confused with?
Break it down!
Given the meaning of the suffix –like, what does machinelike mean?