Meanings
comparative more similar · superlative most similar
- Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, allied, comparable.
My new car is quite similar to my old one, except it has a bit more space in the back.
2 more examples
So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,[…]a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLCSimilar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200 - linear algebraOf two square matrices; being such that a conjugation sends one matrix to the other.
Synonyms & antonyms
with common characteristics
antonym(s) of “alike”
adjectivemarked by correspondence or resemblance
adjectiveresembling or similar; having the same or some of the same characteristics; often used in combination
adjective(of words) expressing closely related meanings
adjectivecapable of replacing or changing places with something else; permitting mutual substitution without loss of function or suitability
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsimilis“like”
- Medieval Latinsimilaris
- Frenchsimilaire
- Englishsimilar
From French similaire, from Medieval Latin similaris, extended from Latin similis (“like”); akin to simul (“together”).
More words from French, Medieval Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὅμοιος
- ὅμοιος (hómoios)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Arabic مُمَاثِل
- مُمَاثِل (mumāṯil)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Bengali অনুরূপ
- অনুরূপ (onurup)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Bulgarian подо́бен, сходен
- подо́бен (podóben)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- сходен (shoden)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- подобен (podoben)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Catalan similar, semblant
- similarhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- semblanthaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Chinese Cantonese 差唔多
- 差唔多 (caa¹ m⁴ do¹)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Chinese Mandarin 類似 /类似, 差不多
- 類似 /类似 (lèisì)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- 差不多 (chàbùduō)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- 相似 (xiāngsì)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- 相似 (xiāngsì)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Czech podobný, podobný
- podobnýhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- podobnýof geometric figures, having the same shape
Danish lignende, magen til
- lignendehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- magen tilhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Dutch dergelijk, vergelijkbaar
- dergelijkhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- vergelijkbaarhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- soortgelijkhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Esperanto simila
- similahaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Finnish samanlainen, yhdenmuotoinen
- samanlainenhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- yhdenmuotoinenof geometric figures, having the same shape
French similaire, semblable
- similairehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- semblablehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
German ähnlich, ähnlich
- ähnlichhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- ähnlichof geometric figures, having the same shape
Greek παρόμοιος, όμοιος
- παρόμοιος (parómoios)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- όμοιος (ómoios)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- όμοιος (ómoios)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Hebrew דומה, משול
- דומה (domé)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- משול (mashúl)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- דומה (domé)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Hindi समान, अनुरूप
- समान (samān)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- अनुरूप (anurūp)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Hungarian hasonló
- hasonlóhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Icelandic einslaga, einslagaður
- einslagaof geometric figures, having the same shape
- einslagaðurof geometric figures, having the same shape
- einshyrndurof geometric figures, having the same shape
Indonesian serupa, mirip
- serupahaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- miriphaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Italian simile, somigliante
- similehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- somigliantehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- rassomigliantehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- simileof geometric figures, having the same shape
Japanese 似ている, 相似
- 似ている (nite iru)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- 相似 (sōji)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Korean 비슷하다, 같다
- 비슷하다 (biseuthada)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- 같다 (gatda)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Latin similis
- similishaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Latvian līdzīgs
- līdzīgshaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Lithuanian panašus
- panašushaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Malay serupa
- serupahaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Māori oropapa
- oropapahaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Norwegian Bokmål lignende, liknende
- lignendehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- liknendehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Persian مشابه, مانند
- مشابه (mošâbe)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- مانند (mânand)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- شبیه (šabih)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Polish podobny, podobny
- podobnyhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- podobnyof geometric figures, having the same shape
Portuguese parecido, semelhante
- parecidohaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- semelhantehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- similarhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Romanian similar, asemănător
- similarhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- asemănătorhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- asemeneaof geometric figures, having the same shape
Russian подо́бный, похо́жий
- подо́бный (podóbnyj)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- похо́жий (poxóžij)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- схо́жий (sxóžij)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- схо́дный (sxódnyj)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- подо́бный (podóbnyj)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Scottish Gaelic coltach
- coltachhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Slovak podobný
- podobnýhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Spanish similar, semejante
- similarhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- semejantehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- parecidohaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- parejohaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- equiparablehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- semejanteof geometric figures, having the same shape
Swedish liknande
- liknandehaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Tagalog hawig, kahawig
- hawighaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- kahawighaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- hawigof geometric figures, having the same shape
- kahawigof geometric figures, having the same shape
Thai คล้าย
- คล้าย (kláai)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Turkish benzer, müşabih
- benzerhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- müşabihhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- mümasilhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Ukrainian поді́бний, схо́жий
- поді́бний (podíbnyj)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- схо́жий (sxóžyj)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- поді́бний (podíbnyj)of geometric figures, having the same shape
Urdu سمان
- سمان (samān)having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Vietnamese giống, tựa
- giốnghaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- tựahaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- nhưhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- giống nhưhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
- tựa nhưhaving traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable
Cite this entry
similar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/similar
“similar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/similar. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “similar,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/similar.
Source: similar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.