lexicow

unalike

/ˌʌnəˈlaɪk//ˌʌnəˈlaɪk/·adjective
A mallet taps the tall fork at the end of the row, and it rings, throwing out thin rings of sound. One other fork — the only one cut to the same length — picks up the note and begins to sing along on its own, untouched. But the forks of other lengths just stand there, dead still: the sound washes over them and they give back nothing, because nothing in them matches. Only the twin replies; the rest keep their silence. Side by side, and sharing not one note in common.
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Definition

Unalike means not alike — sharing no resemblance, failing to correspond. It is built plainly from un-, 'not', and 'alike', and it usually describes two things set side by side that simply do not match: two unalike siblings, two unalike halves. Where dissimilar leans formal and technical, unalike is the plainer word, and it stresses the absence of any answering likeness — nothing in the one echoes the other. It almost always follows what it describes ('the two are unalike') rather than standing before a noun.

Examples

  • However hard you look, the two accounts are utterly unalike and refuse to line up.
  • Their tastes are so unalike that the two friends rarely resonate over a single film.
  • The two species are unalike enough that even a novice can distinguish them.

Collocations

completely unalike·utterly unalike·unalike in every way·so unalike that·temperamentally unalike

Synonyms

dissimilar·different·divergent·disparate·mismatched

Antonyms

alike·similar·identical

See also

In TOEFL & IELTS

Plainer and less common than its twin dissimilar, and almost always predicative — it follows the noun ('the two are quite unalike'), rather than sitting before it. Useful in Speaking and writing to stress that things share no resemblance at all. Built transparently from 'un-' + 'alike', so the meaning is easy; the skill is choosing it over dissimilar when you mean simple non-correspondence rather than difference in kind.