- present participle of like.
liking
Americannoun
-
likings
plural
-
preference, inclination, or favor.
to show a liking for privacy.
- Synonyms:
- affection, fondness, partiality, predilection, propensity, leaning
- Antonyms:
- antipathy
-
pleasure or taste.
much to his liking.
-
the state or feeling of a person who likes.
noun
-
the feeling of a person who likes; fondness
-
a preference, inclination, or pleasure
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of liking
before 900; Middle English; Old English līcung. See like 2, -ing 1
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:
Frankel didn’t even try a Caesar until she was 15 or 16 and didn’t take a true liking to them until she was living on her own in Boston.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
A mistake many people make, Bobby says, is thinking that really, really liking someone should supersede whatever challenges they might face.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
My dummy account, Mohammed, was a profile set to private and designed to look similar to the accounts of younger Moroccan people who were liking and commenting on the posts advertising crossings.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
I’d probably meet up with a friend and go to the Silverlake Flea Market, which I’ve been really liking recently.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Connor wasn’t alone in not liking to go to the movies—no one ever really went.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
They are, wrote Dickens, “the curious old records of likings and dislikings; of jealousies and revenges; of affection defying the power of death, and hatred pursued beyond the grave.”
From The Guardian ● Jun. 12, 2015
In matters of art, Blake's hates were as passionate and as swollen with moral assurance as his likings.
From Time Magazine Archive
For shops that do it right, there are plenty of lines that a longboard customer should be able to pick through to find his or her likings.
From Time Magazine Archive
All Alaskans have their likings, their wants, their plans for solving the problems of the Territory, but in nearly every case two sets of opposite demands were presented to the President.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest likings of Big People.
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.
