similar

From French similaire, from Medieval Latin similaris, extended from Latin similis (“like”); akin to simul (“together”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmələ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪməlɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

similar (comparative more similar, superlative most similar)

1. Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, allied, comparable.

   My new car is quite similar to my old one, except it has a bit more space in the back.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:

     Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

2. (mathematics) Having the same shape, in particular, having corresponding angles equal and corresponding line segments proportional.
3. (mathematics, linear algebra) Of two square matrices; being such that a conjugation sends one matrix to the other.

• (with common characteristics): akin, allied, alike, comparable, identical, same, twin

• (antonym(s) of “alike”): different, unlike, dissimilar

• in a similar vein
• self-similar
• similarity
• similarly
• similarness

similar (plural similars)

1. That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.

   Hyponyms: lookalike, soundalike; biosimilar; imitation; simulacrum

2. (homeopathy) A material that produces an effect that resembles the symptoms of a particular disease.

• “similar”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “similar”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Borrowed from Latin similāris.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [si.miˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [si.miˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [si.miˈlaɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

similar m or f (masculine and feminine plural similars)

1. similar

   Synonym: semblant

• similitud

• “similar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• Hyphenation: si‧mi‧lar

similar m or f (plural similares)

1. similar (having traits or characteristics in common)

   Synonyms: parecido, semelhante

Borrowed from French similaire.

similar m or n (feminine singular similară, masculine plural similari, feminine and neuter plural similare)

1. similar

• IPA^(key): /simiˈlaɾ/ [si.miˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: si‧mi‧lar

similar m or f (masculine and feminine plural similares)

1. similar

   Synonyms: semejante, parecido, símil (rare)

   Antonyms: desemejante, desigual, diferente, disímil, dispar, disparejo, diverso

• “similar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024