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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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:
If you dislike or even detest this film, I don’t seek to negate your feelings.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
“I personally dislike this style,” said Nathan Luckock, a 20-year-old engineer at an AI startup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
He appears to sincerely dislike the idea that his candidacy should be a story about his identity at all.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
When it came to film however, "I don't dislike it at all," he added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
It was obvious to me that he didn’t dislike himself.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
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
"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
Its findings suggest while widely known for his fame, "dislikes" of Musk have increased in recent years to eclipse his popularity.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Bando dislikes pigs as much as I do.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
The report found Letby had ignored management instructions when she disliked them and shouted at her manager.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
A disliked corner of the stock market really isn’t as bad as it seems, according to StoneX.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
He rarely issued press releases, didn’t convene news conferences, and disliked raising campaign money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 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
I found I disliked him more when I left than when I had entered.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
"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
Perhaps the baseball karma gods took a disliking to Kepler’s heads-up play because Seattle reeled off four runs in the top of the ninth inning as the Twins imploded.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
‘And you can say what you like, about what you know no more of than you do of boating, Mr. Sandyman,’ retorted the Gaffer, disliking the miller even more than usual.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Definitions 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.
