lexicow

dissimilar

/dɪˈsɪmələr//dɪˈsɪmɪlə/·adjective
Two metal rods hang in one jar of fluid — a copper one, warm and red, and a zinc one, cold and grey — and even by eye they are plainly different stuff. Run a wire between their tops and the difference does real work: a pulse of current races along the wire, fine bubbles fizz up the copper, and the zinc slowly eats away at its own edge. Nothing was added but contact; the gap between two unlike metals was real enough to light a circuit. Different not by a little, but in their very make.
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Definition

Dissimilar means unlike in nature or kind — different not by a shade but at the root. It is built from dis-, 'not', and the Latin similis, 'like', the same root as 'similar' and 'resemble'. The word leans formal and is often technical: engineers warn that dissimilar metals in contact will corrode, because the gap between them is real enough to drive a current. To call two things dissimilar is to say they are other in kind, and usually that the contrast is plain enough to distinguish at a glance.

Examples

  • The two minerals are chemically dissimilar, however alike they look to the eye.
  • Her method is wholly dissimilar to her mentor's, and the two approaches diverge sharply.
  • Critics discern a dissimilar tone in the writer's later, darker novels.

Collocations

dissimilar to·markedly dissimilar·dissimilar metals·wholly dissimilar·not dissimilar to

Synonyms

unalike·different·disparate·divergent·distinct

Antonyms

similar·alike·identical·comparable

See also

Word family

dissimilarity (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A formal step up from 'different', common in TOEFL/IELTS science and comparison passages. Note the preposition: dissimilar TO (not 'from'). The technical phrase 'dissimilar metals' shows up in physics and engineering texts. Watch the litotes 'not dissimilar to', which actually means 'quite similar'. Keep it apart from its near-twin unalike, which is plainer and stresses a simple lack of resemblance rather than a difference in kind.