Unlike

Part of speech: adjective, preposition

Pronunciation: /ʌnˈlaɪk/

Definitions

1. Not similar to or different from something else in character or quality
2. Dissimilar in nature or form when compared to another entity
3. Having characteristics that set it apart from a given reference point or item

Etymology: Old English speakers did not need two words for "unlike" and "not alike," because the same word covered both. "Unlīċ" and the fuller "unġelīċ" meant "different, dissimilar, diverse," and it was built from the negating prefix "un-" attached to an adjective meaning "like." The Proto-Germanic ancestor, reconstructed as "*ungalīkaz," shows the same structure, and cognates survive in Dutch "ongelijk," German "ungleich," and Old Norse "úlíkr." So the word is an ancient Germanic formation, not a later borrowing from Latin or French. Its English history is simple. Middle English kept the adjective as "unlic" and "unlich," and a separate verb, "unliken," developed from the same stem to mean "to make unlike." The modern preposition sense, as in "unlike her sister," grew naturally out of the adjective: someone is "unlike" another when the two differ in some respect. The construction is transparent, so the word has never needed reshaping to stay in use.

Synonyms: dissimilar, different, unrelated, divergent, distinct

Antonyms: similar, alike, identical, comparable, uniform