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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

mislike.

To disapprove of or dislike (someone or something); to have an aversion to.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/(ˌ)mɪsˈlaɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌmɪsˈlaɪk/General-American
  1. To disapprove of or dislike (someone or something); to have an aversion to.

    transitive
  2. To displease or offend (someone).

    archaic · transitive
  3. To displease or offend.

    archaic · intransitive
  4. To disapprove; also, to be displeased or unhappy.

    intransitive · obsolete
  5. To become sickly or weak due to poor health; to waste away.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English misliken (“to displease, offend; to disturb mentally, peturb; to dislike, find distasteful; to be unpleasant; to be displeased, dissatisfied, or unhappy; to feel sorry for (someone’s misfortune); of fruit or a tree: to fail to flourish”) [and other forms], from Old English mislīcian (“to displease; to disquiet”), from mis- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly; wrong; wrongly’, or indicating a failure or lack) + līcian (“to like; to appeal to, please”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“like, similar; even, level”)). The English word is analysable as mis- + like. Cognates * Middle Dutch mislīken * Middle Low German mislīken * Old High German misselīchēn (“to displease”) (Middle High German misselīchen) * Old Norse mislíka (Icelandic mislíka (“to dislike”)) * Old Swedish mislika (modern Swedish misslika)

noun/(ˌ)mɪsˈlaɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌmɪsˈlaɪk/General-American
  1. Aversion or distaste for something; dislike; (countable, archaic) an instance of this.

    archaic · uncountable
  2. Lack of comfort; discomfort; also, difficulty; trouble; or sadness; unhappiness.

    obsolete · uncountable
  3. The characteristic or state of incapacity, physical distress, or weakness due to poor health; sickliness; (countable) an instance of this.

    obsolete · uncountable
  4. Discontent, unrest; (countable) an instance of this.

    obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English mislike (“displeasure; hardship; sorrow; unpleasantness”), from mis- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly; wrong; wrongly’, etc.) + like (“pleasure, will”) (from liken (“to give pleasure to, make happy, please; to be pleasant; to suit; (reflexive) to please oneself, take delight; (reflexive) to be pleased to do (something); to like; to approve of, be in favour of; to be delighted or pleased; to choose, want, wish”), from Old English līcian (verb): see further at etymology 1).

adj/(ˌ)mɪsˈlaɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌmɪsˈlaɪk/General-American
  1. Not like or similar; different, unlike.

    obsolete · rare
Where this word comes from

From mis- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly; wrong; wrongly’) + like (“similar”, adjective).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.