not anything like

Idioms

Also, nothing like; not anywhere near; nowhere near. Quite different from, far from; also, not nearly. For example, The town's library isn't anything like the university's library, or His outfit was nothing like his brother's, or It isn't anything like as cold as it was last winter, or That movie isn't anywhere near as exciting as I thought it would be, or Her diamond is nowhere near as big as mine. The phrases with like date from the late 1700s, and those with near from the mid-1400s.

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.

Well, except no, it’s not anything like that.

From Slate • Sep. 22, 2024

“It’s still not anything like what we saw prepandemic. It’s cooling from a boil to a rolling simmer. And that’s not enough.”

From New York Times • Oct. 4, 2022

“He hasn’t done any activity of going to war or anything. It was not anything like that.”

From Seattle Times • Jun. 26, 2022

"I think for some customers, they honestly think I'm going to turn up with an old broom handle with a brush on the end and it's not anything like that," Emily says.

From BBC • Jun. 26, 2019

I kept thinking, though, that this was not anything like how Mama and Daddy had told me school was going to be, and I believed that was not a good sign.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023