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unalike

/ˌʌnəˈlaɪk//ˌʌnəˈlaɪk/·adjective
not alike; sharing no resemblance
Fig. 1 — A mallet taps the tall fork at the end of the row, and it rings, throwing out thin rings of sound.
01Definition

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.

02In use
  • iHowever hard you look, the two accounts are utterly unalike and refuse to line up.
  • iiTheir tastes are so unalike that the two friends rarely resonate over a single film.
  • iiiThe two species are unalike enough that even a novice can distinguish them.
03Collocations
  • completely unalike
  • utterly unalike
  • unalike in every way
  • so unalike that
  • temperamentally unalike
04Relations

=dissimilar, different, divergent, disparate, mismatched

≠alike, similar, identical

05Compared
PairThe difference
unalike vs dissimilara difference of kind or category → dissimilar; a plain absence of resemblance (they just don't match) → unalike.
06TOEFL & 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.

07Asked
Is 'unalike' a real word?
Yes — uncommon, but genuine and dictionary-listed, recorded in English since the early twentieth century. It is built transparently from un- ('not') plus alike, so the meaning is plain: not alike, sharing no resemblance. It sounds unusual mostly because its formal twin dissimilar does the same job more often, but unalike is perfectly correct where you want the plainer word.
What does unalike mean?
Not alike — sharing no resemblance, with nothing in the one echoing the other. It describes two things set side by side that simply do not match: two unalike siblings, two unalike halves. The scene above catches the sense precisely — a struck tuning fork wakes only the one fork cut to the same length; the differently sized ones stay silent, sharing not a single note.
How do you use unalike in a sentence?
Almost always after the noun it describes, not before it — you say 'the two are quite unalike', rarely 'unalike siblings'. This predicative-only habit is its main quirk: it follows a linking verb (are, seem, remain) and often pairs with intensifiers, 'utterly unalike', 'so unalike that…'. If you need a word to sit before a noun, dissimilar or different will go there; unalike prefers to come after.
What is the opposite of unalike?
Alike — its direct root — along with similar and, at the far end, identical. The pairing is clean because unalike is simply alike negated: where alike things answer each other, unalike things do not. For the near-synonym one step up in formality, dissimilar covers difference in kind; unalike stays the plainer word for a simple absence of resemblance.