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:
With a huge transfer under way, you may inherit shares of companies that you dislike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
“I know with the Democratic Club and many other clubs, there’s been loud dislike with us,” Tedesco said.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 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
The overwhelming dislike for the Pahlavi dynasty gave birth to the Iranian Revolution, and by then my parents were also fed up with the regime's inhumane tactics.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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
There are no refunds if someone dislikes their options—they can only get their money back if they request a refund before submitting the initial form to Mystery Vacations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
He dislikes the new house almost as much as I do and always leaves it when my sisters at school.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Tolkien supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War, disliked the motorcar and had his doubts about Shakespeare.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
One thing she disliked was the ADU, which was visible from most rooms in the front house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 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
The report found Letby had ignored management instructions when she disliked them and shouted at her manager.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
A tall, skinny blond boy with an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan’s; Harry recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom he heartily disliked.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
In 1995, Keith starred in Next Of Kin as Maggie Prentice, a grandmother who made no secret of disliking her orphaned grandchildren when taking them in after the death of her estranged son.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 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
Mulvaney then told Barrymore, “I look at someone like you and can’t imagine anybody disliking you.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2023
In disliking them, I was forced to recognize my own pretension, and that made me hate them even more.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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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.
