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RELATED WORDS
essentially, nearly, basically, practically, around, fundamentally, implicitly, morally, effectually, guesstimate
Nearby words
- ligurian republic,
- ligurian sea,
- ligustrum,
- likable,
- likasi,
- like a bat out of hell,
- like a bump on a log,
- like a cat on hot bricks,
- like a champ,
- like a chicken with its head cut off
Idioms
Origin of like
1Usage note
Like1 as a conjunction meaning “as, in the same way as” ( Many shoppers study the food ads like brokers study market reports ) or “as if” ( It looks like it will rain ) has been used for nearly 500 years and by many distinguished literary and intellectual figures. Since the mid-19th century there have been objections, often vehement, to these uses. Nevertheless, such uses are almost universal today in all but the most formal speech and writing. In extremely careful speech and in much formal writing, as, as if, and as though are more commonly used than like : The commanding general accepted full responsibility for the incident, as any professional soldier would. Many of the Greenwich Village bohemians lived as if (or as though ) there were no tomorrow.
The strong strictures against the use of like as a conjunction have resulted in the occasional hypercorrect use of as as a preposition where like is idiomatic: She looks as a sympathetic person.
Like meaning “as if” is also standard in informal speech and writing with a small number of adjectives: The crew worked like crazy (or like mad ) to finish the job on time. See also as.
The strong strictures against the use of like as a conjunction have resulted in the occasional hypercorrect use of as as a preposition where like is idiomatic: She looks as a sympathetic person.
Like meaning “as if” is also standard in informal speech and writing with a small number of adjectives: The crew worked like crazy (or like mad ) to finish the job on time. See also as.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Word Origin for like
shortened from Old English gelīc; compare Old Norse glīkr and līkr like
usage
The use of like to mean such as was formerly thought to be undesirable in formal writing, but has now become acceptable. It was also thought that as rather than like should be used to mean in the same way that, but now both as and like are acceptable: they hunt and catch fish as/like their ancestors used to. The use of look like and seem like before a clause, although very common, is thought by many people to be incorrect or non-standard: it looks as though he won't come (not it looks like he won't come)
like
2/ (laɪk) /
verb
noun
(usually plural) a favourable feeling, desire, preference, etc (esp in the phrase likes and dislikes)
Word Origin for like
Old English līcian; related to Old Norse līka, Dutch lijken
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
something like
Similar to, resembling, as in They want a flower garden something like the ones they saw in England. [Mid-1600s]
like
In addition to the idioms beginning with like
- like a bat out of hell
- like a bump on a log
- like a cat on hot bricks
- like a champ
- like a chicken with its head cut off
- like a drowned rat
- like a fish out of water
- like a house afire
- like a lamb to the slaughter
- like anything
- like a shot
- like as not
- like as two peas in a pod
- like a ton of bricks
- like clockwork
- like crazy
- like death warmed over
- like father, like son
- like fun
- like gangbusters
- like greased lightning
- like hell
- like hot cakes, go
- like it or lump it
- likely as not
- like mad
- like nobody's business
- like nothing on earth
- like pigs in clover
- like pulling teeth
- like rolling off a log
- like shooting fish in a barrel
- likes of, the
- like something the cat dragged in
- like that
- like to
- like water off a duck's back
also see:
- and the like
- avoid like the plague
- come up (smelling like) roses
- crazy like a fox
- drink like a fish
- drop like flies
- Dutch uncle, talk to like a
- eat like a bird
- feel like
- (like a) fish out of water
- fit like a glove
- fly on the wall, would like to be a
- get on (like a house afire)
- go out (like a light)
- go over (like a lead balloon)
- grin like a Cheshire cat
- (drop like a) hot potato
- just like that
- know like a book
- live like a king
- look like a million dollars
- look like death
- look like something the cat dragged in
- look like the cat that ate the canary
- make out like a bandit
- manna from heaven, like
- mind like a steel trap
- need like a hole in the head
- no fool like an old fool
- not anything like
- no time like the present
- out like a light
- packed in like sardines
- sleep like a log
- something like
- spread like wildfire
- stick out (like a sore thumb)
- swear like a trooper
- take to (like a duck to water)
- tell it like it is
- treat like dirt
- turn up like a bad penny
- wail like a banshee
- watch like a hawk
- work like a beaver
- work like a charm
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.