Pronunciations (7)
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/laɪ̯k/
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/læ̙ːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Jamaica
- Multicultural-London-English
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/lɑːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Jamaica
- Multicultural-London-English
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/lɔɪ̯k/
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/lʌɪk/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- Scotland
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[ləi̯k]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- Scotland
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/lɑɪ̯k/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
Verb
To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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I like this song.
I like reading books.
I very much like hamburgers.
More examples (6)
I like skiing in winter very much.
I liked her much better after I got to know her.
I like it when you sing.
He may either go or stay, as he best likes.
“I can tell you more than that, if you like,” said the Gryphon. “Do you know why it’s called a whiting?”
At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. To please (same meaning as above but with subject and object reversed).
Usage- Archaic
- Transitive
- Examples
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I willingly confess that it likes me much better when I find virtue in a fair lodging than when I am bound to seek it in an ill-favoured creature.
His countenance likes me not.
To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. To derive pleasure [with of or by or with ‘from someone or something’].
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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And therefore it is the best way, if you like of it, to examine these taken from experiments touching the Earth, and then proceed to those of the other kind.
More examples (1)
He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
To prefer and maintain (an action) as a regular habit or activity.
- Examples
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I like to go to the dentist every six months.
She likes to keep herself physically fit.
More examples (2)
We like to keep one around the office just in case.
People in Washington like to work out!
To find attractive; to prefer the company of; to have mild romantic feelings for.
- Examples
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I really like Sandra but don't know how to tell her.
― Enju: “Apparently when you like someone, you start talking like them.”
More examples (1)
I was dating someone I liked, but not enough to marry.
To want, desire. See also would like.
Usage- with ‘would’ and in certain other phrases
- Examples
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I would like some tea.
Would you like a cigarette?
We could go to the museum if you like.
More examples (3)
May I leave now? ~ If you like.
I don't like to disturb him when he's working.
You can come over whenever you like.
To show support for, or approval of, something posted on the Internet by marking it with a vote.
Usage- Internet
- Transitive
- Examples
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You can like the photo.
I liked my friend's last status on Facebook.
I can't stand Bloggs' tomato ketchup, but I liked it on Facebook so I could enter a competition.
More examples (1)
What' up, y'all? I'm the last man on Earth. Shit's all fucked up. Don't forget to like and subscribe. We out here.
Of inanimate objects: To be prone to.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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Too bad this cheese likes to stick to the pan and ruin the whole meal.
Of inanimate objects: Of a computer or other system: to tolerate as an input; to accept.
Usage- Informal
- in the negative
- Examples
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This self-service checkout doesn't seem to like my credit card.
More examples (1)
We were frustrated that our seeming innocent choice for a team name was rejected by the game. Apparently somewhere in the name is a word that the algorithm doesn’t like.
email delivery failed: remote host does not like recipient
To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape narrowly.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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He liked to have been too late.
He probably got his death, as he liked to have done two years ago, by viewing the troops for the expedition from the wall of Kensington Garden.
To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to be (in a specified condition).
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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You like well, and bear your years very well.
To liken; to compare.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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And like me to the peasant boys of France.
Noun
Something that a person likes (prefers).
Usage- in-plural
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Tell me your likes and dislikes.
An individual vote showing support for, approval of, or enjoyment of, something posted on the Internet.
Usage- Internet
- Examples
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Social media is supervisual, and there's nothing more shareable than images, so this is a way to increase shares and likes and follows.
Dress for myself, I don't dress for hype / I dress for myself, you dress for the likes
More examples (1)
Likes are the social media currency undergirding an entire influencer economy, inspiring a million Kardashian wannabes and giving many of us regular people daily endorphin hits.
Adjective
Similar.
- Examples
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My partner and I have like minds.
The two cats were as like as though they had come from the same litter.
More examples (4)
This apology was made after Hunt's death, and mentioned a revision of the first sketch, so as to render it less like, at the suggestion of two other friends of Hunt. The friends were Procter (Barry Cornwall) and myself; the feeling having been mine from the first that the likeness was too like.
It will seem strange that in all this time the Presbytery was idle, and no effort was made to rid the place of so fell an influence. But there was a reason, and the reason, as in most like cases, was a lassie.
[…]and this is not a sky, it is a Soul and living Face! Nothing liker the Temple of the Highest, bright with some real effulgence of the Highest, is seen in this world.
I opened the man's linen robe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath the woman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life had ebbed away.
Likely; probable.
Usage- Scotland
- Southern-US
- Examples
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But it is like the jolly world about us will scoff at the paradox of these practices.
Many were […] not easy to be govern'd, nor like to conform themselves to such strict rules.
More examples (2)
Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our Sprit-ſail, and ſtood by to hand the Fore-ſail; but making foul Weather, we look'd the Guns were all faſt, and handed the Miſſen.
She had waited overlong, and now it was like that Ailie would escape her toils.
inclined (to), prone (to).
Usage- Scotland
- Southern-US
- usually
- with to
- Examples
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He seems like to run from any semblance of hard work.
Adverb
Likely.
Usage- Colloquial
- dialectal
- Obsolete
- Examples
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DON PEDRO. May be she doth but counterfeit. CLAUDIO. Faith, like enough.
More examples (2)
“You'll try it, some day, like enough; but you'll get tired of the change pretty soon.” “Why?” “Well, I'll tell you. Now you've always been a sailor; did you ever try some other business?”
If I can't spare the time—well, like as not we go anyhow. And where else can you ride all day with your saddle and neck full of snow brushed from the trees and still not freeze half to death?
In a like or similar manner.
Usage- Archaic
- Rare
- Examples
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Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
Noun
Someone similar to a given person, or something similar to a given object; a comparative; a type; a sort.
Usage- Countable
- sometimes
- Uncountable
- as the likes of
- Examples
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There were bowls full of sweets, chocolates and the like.
This is something the likes of which I've never seen before, and we should compare like with like instead.
More examples (5)
"Such things do happen and centre round the wicked medium. You can get down into a region which is akin to the popular idea of witchcraft, it is dishonest to deny it." "Like attracts like," explained Mrs. Mailey[.]
1935, Winston Churchill on T.E. Lawrence We shall never see his like again.
It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July the 26th was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth.
In fact it would be fair to say that he had reached a level of annoyance the like of which had never been seen in the Universe.
The manifesto talks of safeguards to ensure that freight operators receive fair access to the network. These may be reassuring words for the likes of DB Cargo, but the devil will be in the detail and freight operators will no doubt be pressing for that detail to include cheaper electricity and access charges.
The stroke that equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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to play the like
Conjunction
As, the way.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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1966, Advertising slogan for Winston cigarettes Winston tastes good like a cigarette should
But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you, too Ya got to do unto others Like you’d have them, like you’d have them, do unto you
As if; as though.
Usage- Colloquial
- usually
- Examples
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It looks like you've finished the project.
It seemed like you didn't care.
More examples (2)
He didn’t have many friends, it didn’t seem like.
A too skinny white girl, dressed like some kind of teen-ager although she had to be thirty, with one of those fake white-girl smiles stuck on her face like with scotch tape.
Such as.
Usage- Colloquial
- usually
- Examples
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Why don’t we do something useful like clean the kitchen?
Preposition
Similar to, reminiscent of.
- Examples
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This fruit tastes like a pear.
Folk like that I just can’t brook.
I’m very like my father.
More examples (6)
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.
It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.
When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him.[…]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.
Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.
Typical of.
- Examples
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It would be just like Achilles to be sulking in his tent.
Approximating.
- Examples
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Popcorn costs something like 10 dollars at the movies.
In the manner of, similarly to.
- Examples
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He doesn't act like a president.
Such as; including.
- Examples
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I enjoy sports like swimming.
It's for websites like Wikipedia.
More examples (1)
In Mars's office, near his own impressive executive desk (a Vladimir Kagan), hangs a mixed media artwork depicting legendary MCs like Queen Latifah, Slick Rick, Rakim, and Nas (a business partner of Mars's).
As if there would be.
- Examples
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It looks like a hot summer in Europe.
Used to ask for a description or opinion of someone or something.
- Examples
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I hear she has a new boyfriend. What's he like? –He's intelligent and handsome.
What’s the weather like in Ürümqi today?
More examples (1)
What does your mom look like? –She's pretty.
Particle
A delayed filler.
Usage- Geordie
- Ireland
- Scotland
- Teesside
- Colloquial
- Examples
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He was so angry, like.
Indicating approximation or uncertainty.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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There were, like, twenty of them.
More examples (1)
[Sally Brown:] Christmas is getting all you can get while the getting is good. [Charlie Brown:] GIVING! The only real joy is GIVING! [Sally Brown, rolling her eyes:] Like, wow!
he kissed me goodbye on the lips + we like bumped heads + it was very awkward.
More examples (1)
"She's like brand new."
Used to precede an approximate quotation or paraphrase or an expression of something that happened.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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I was like, “Why did you do that?” and he's like, “I don't know.”
A customer walked in like, "I demand to see the manager!"
More examples (2)
You're just doing your own thing and some one comes out the blue, They're like, "Alright" What ya saying, "Yeah can I take your digits?" And you're like, "no not in a million years, you're nasty please leave me alone."
'It made this sky ripping noise, and then went like “bang”, real hard into the ground. A long way away but.'
A discourse marker used to highlight or put focus on new information or a new development in a story.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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She was, like, sooooo happy.
And then he, like, got all angry and left the room.
Introduces an exemplification or demonstration of the previous statement
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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More examples (1)
And after a while I began seeing how un-hard the whole scene was. Like they had some kind of raffle + all the hard guys were looking to see if they won + then they announced everyone with a motorcycle cap or a cowboy hat on could get a free drink. How high school!
Verb
To be likely.
Usage- dialectal
- Intransitive
- Examples
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He probably got his death, as he liked to have done two years ago, by viewing the troops for the expedition, from the wall of Kensington garden.
Adjective
resembling or similar; having the same or some of the same characteristics; often used in combination
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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suits of like design
a limited circle of like minds
More examples (4)
members of the cat family have like dispositions
as like as two peas in a pod
doglike devotion
a dreamlike quality
equal in amount or value
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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like amounts
the same amount
More examples (2)
gave one six blows and the other a like number
the same number
having the same or similar characteristics
- Examples
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all politicians are alike
they looked utterly alike
More examples (1)
friends are generally alike in background and taste
conforming in every respect
- Synonyms
- Examples
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boxes with corresponding dimensions
the like period of the preceding year
Noun
a similar kind
- Synonyms
- Examples
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dogs, foxes, and the like
we don't want the likes of you around here
a kind of person
- Synonyms
- Examples
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We'll not see his like again
I can't tolerate people of his ilk
Verb
to hope, to desire or to prefer to have something, or to do something
- Examples
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Do you care to try this dish?
Would you like to come along to the movies?
More examples (1)
I wish I could go home now
find enjoyable or agreeable
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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I like jogging
She likes to read Russian novels
be fond of
- Broader terms
- Examples
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I like my nephews
feel about or towards; consider, evaluate, or regard
- Examples
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How did you like the President's speech last night?
want to have
- Examples
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I'd like a beer now!