adverb
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in addition; moreover; also
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in like manner; similarly
Usage
What does likewise mean? Likewise can mean also, in addition, moreover, similarly, or in the same way. Likewise can also be used to mean something like “me too” or “the same thing you just said.” When used this way, it’s typically used by itself as a one-word response to a statement. For example, if someone says, “It was nice you meet you,” you could simply reply, “Likewise!”Example: I think we work well together, and I hope you feel likewise.
Etymology
Origin of likewise
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; earlier in like wise “in a like way;” see like 1, wise 2
Explanation
Likewise means "similarly." Your attempt to bypass security with a fake ID was unsuccessful, and your guise as a pizza deliverer was likewise ineffective. Likewise is an adverb with three different senses. One is "similarly." You were unimpressed with your brother's poetry, and likewise unimpressed with his taste in music. Likewise can also mean "in addition," and "equally." Your new t-shirts sold well at the beach boutique, and likewise they sold well on line. If you want to tell someone you feel the way he does, say, "I feel likewise."
Vocabulary lists containing likewise
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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.
Likewise, Alito writes, an asylum-seeker standing in Mexico has not “arrived in the United States,” even if an American border officer is the only thing preventing that final step.
From Slate • Jun. 26, 2026
Likewise the Prince of Wales, who declared an annual tax payment of £7.76m tax.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
Likewise, the board has approved several permanent replacements selected by Chait for top administrators who are leaving the district, including the departing deputy superintendent of instruction, Karla Estrada.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2026
Likewise, her husband’s refusal to share custody was widely exaggerated into a story that he had abandoned his children entirely—claims Burden didn’t even make herself.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
Likewise, multiplying by one-half is like relaxing the rubber band a bit: the tick mark at two is now at one, and the tick mark at three winds up at one and a half.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
