liking

[lahy-king]

noun

1. preference, inclination, or favor.

   to show a liking for privacy.

   Synonyms: affection, fondness, partiality, predilection, propensity, leaning
   Antonyms: antipathy

2. pleasure or taste.

   much to his liking.

3. the state or feeling of a person who likes. like.

liking

/ ˈlaɪkɪŋ /

noun

1. the feeling of a person who likes; fondness

2. a preference, inclination, or pleasure

Other Word Forms

• overliking noun
• self-liking adjective
• underliking noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of liking¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English līcung. See like ², -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Cicero’s elegant style was much to Penelope’s liking, although it did set a high standard.

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Penelope had always had a keen liking for poetry.

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Yet Thucydides’s history and Aristophanes’s plays are still enjoyed to this very day, which proves that, when it comes to liking a good story, people have not changed very much at all.

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But at a church cookout this new gentleman, James Johnson, seemed to take a liking to me.

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It pegs Star Petroleum Refining as its top pick, liking its status as a pure-play refinery stock.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• affinity