dislike
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
verb
noun
Related Words
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
- dislikable adjective
- dislikeable adjective
- predislike noun
- self-dislike noun
- self-disliked adjective
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.
Zaitzeff: The market tends to dislike mergers-of-equals transactions.
From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026
“It’s such a difficult thing for me,” she says, “because the thing that’s made me so successful is also an aspect of my personality that I really dislike … I have ambition.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
We dislike insecure bellicosity not just because it’s embarrassing, but because it is ineffective.
From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026
We don’t want to push our children into golf; we are aware that children don’t like something just because their parents do—in fact, they may dislike something precisely because we love it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
They might dislike each other, but they were both businessmen, with the same customers.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
