Meanings
plural dissimilarities
- countableuncountableA lack of similarity or a lack of likeness in appearance to something else.
1 more example
The experiment was abandoned when one fine day spontaneous combustion of the pulverised coal in the container occurred, and a black cloud of the very finely divided fuel rose into the air by the force of the explosion, and was slowly wafted by the prevailing breeze over the town, upon which it descended with the resemblance of black snow, but with the dissimilarity that it did not melt.
1940 May, “The Why and the Wherefore: Pulverised Fuel Experiment”, in Railway Magazine, page 318Synonyms: dissimilitude, nonresemblance, disparity, dissemblance, dissimilitude, unalikeness, unlikeness · Antonyms: similarity, resemblance, likeness, sameness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA lack of similarity or a lack of likeness in appearance to something else.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From dis- + similarity or dissimilar + -ity.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto malsimileco
- malsimilecolack of similarity in appearance to something else
French dissimilitude
- dissimilitudelack of similarity in appearance to something else
Irish éagsúlacht
- éagsúlachtlack of similarity in appearance to something else
Portuguese dissimilaridade, dessemelhança
- dissimilaridadelack of similarity in appearance to something else
- dessemelhançalack of similarity in appearance to something else
Spanish desemejanza, disimilitud
- desemejanzalack of similarity in appearance to something else
- disimilitudlack of similarity in appearance to something else
Ukrainian несхо́жість
- несхо́жість (nesxóžistʹ)lack of similarity in appearance to something else
Cite this entry
dissimilarity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dissimilarity
“dissimilarity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dissimilarity. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dissimilarity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dissimilarity.
Source: dissimilarity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.