Misliked

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Experiencing a sentiment of aversion or dissatisfaction towards a person or thing
2. Being viewed unfavorably or undesired by an individual or group
3. Regarded with disfavor or unpleasant feelings by an individual ; considered unwelcome or disapproved of by others

Etymology: "Misliked" is the past tense of "mislike," which came into English from Old English "mislīcian," meaning "to displease" or "to disquiet." The verb is built from the prefix "mis-," meaning "bad, badly, wrong," and "līcian," "to like, to appeal to, to please." Its root reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "like, similar, even, level," so the core idea is something that does not sit evenly with you, the opposite of pleasing. The same pattern appears across the Germanic languages. Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, Old High German, and Old Norse all had cognate verbs meaning roughly "to displease," and Icelandic and Swedish still use forms of it today. That shared inheritance suggests the verb was already well established in the early Germanic tongues rather than being a late English invention. In Middle English, "mislike" had a wider range than the modern sense. It could mean to offend or disturb someone mentally, to feel sorry for another's misfortune, or even, of a tree or fruit, to fail to flourish. The narrower meaning of simple disapproval came to dominate later.

Synonyms: disliked, detested, hated

Antonyms: liked, loved, adored