liken
verbEtymology
From Middle English liknen (“to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; to apply, be adapted or suitable; to tend (to sin)”) [and other forms], from liken (“to be comparable; to compare; to be appropriate; to form”), from lik (“alike, analogous, similar; appropriate, suitable; equal; homogeneous; identical, the same; indicative; likely (to be or do something), probable; possible; simultaneous; more or most like (?)”) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs). Lik is derived from Old English ġelīċ (“like, similar”), from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“like, similar; equal”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“like, similar; even, level”). The English word is analysable as like (adjective) + -en (suffix forming verbs with the sense ‘to make [adjective]’).
- inherited from liknen — “to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; to apply, be adapted or suitable; to tend (to sin)”
Definitions
Followed by to or (archaic) unto
Followed by to or (archaic) unto: to regard or state that (someone or something) is like another person or thing; to compare.
- The physics teacher likened the effect of mass on space to an indentation in a sheet of rubber.
Chiefly followed by to
Chiefly followed by to: to make (oneself, someone, or something) resemble another person or thing.
- Speech is reason's brother, and a kingly prerogative of man, / That likeneth him to his Maker, who spake, and it was done.
To represent or symbolize (something).
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
Followed by to
Followed by to: to be like or resemble; also, to become like.
The neighborhood
Derived
disliken, likenable, likener, likening, unliken, unlikenable, unlikening
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at liken. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at liken. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
6 hops · closes at liken
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA