unlike

Less common meanings

4. 4
   cancel (online)verbtransitive

   To cancel a previously given 'like' on a social media post.

   If you change your mind, you can unlike a comment at any time.

   He unliked every photo from the account before blocking it.

   Oppositelike

   Note

   Here un- reverses rather than negates. To unlike a post is to undo a like, the way untie undoes a tie, and it has nothing to do with the older 'dislike' verb. Ben Zimmer, in The New York Times Magazine in 2009, described it as toggling off a thumbs-up button. Its past form unliked shares a spelling with the old verb. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Ben Zimmer described unliking as toggling off a thumbs-up button in The New York Times Magazine in 2009. en.wiktionary.org
   • An older verb unlike meant dislike and had the past form unliked. en.wiktionary.org
   • Unliked is the past form of unlike, including its older sense. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   unequaladjective

   Not equal; differing in quantity, size, or degree.

   Before you add fractions with unlike denominators, such as 1/3 and 1/4, rewrite them over a common one.

   The worksheet mixed problems with like and unlike denominators so the class could practice both.

   UsageMostly in math, as in unlike denominators; the opposite is like.

   Similarunequal

   Oppositeequal, like

   Note

   Here the difference is one of measure rather than kind. The adjective stands before nouns of quantity, as in unlike amounts or vessels of unlike speed. It can also name the scale on which things differ. Railway Master Mechanic in 1906 finds the earth unlike the wire 'in size, resistance, and carrying capacity', then turns to equal for the opposite in the next sentence. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Railway Master Mechanic contains the quoted comparison in 1906, volume 30, page 111. en.wiktionary.org
   • The immediately following sentence uses equal in contrast to unlike. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   cancellation (online)nouncountable

   The act of removing a previously given 'like' from a social media post.

   A sudden wave of unlikes pushed the post off the trending page.

   Every unlike was logged on the dashboard within seconds.

   Oppositelike

   Note

   The noun treats the undoing as an event of its own, something a page receives and tallies against its likes. Jesse Cannon and Todd Thomas's Get More Fans (2012) mentions 'an unlike for every 20 likes'. It is the vocabulary of audience metrics. Walter and Gioglio's The Power of Visual Storytelling (2014) ranks being hidden from a News Feed as worse than an unlike.

7. 7
   different thingnouncountable

   A thing that does not resemble something else; a different one.

   Oppositelike

   Note

   A philosopher's noun, usually plural and paired with likes. It turns up in arguments about predication and resemblance, where things that are many must be likes and unlikes, and unlikes cannot be likes. It takes the ordinary plural unlikes, and the same pairing serves a plainer task, such as sorting the likes from the unlikes. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The noun occurs in philosophical arguments about predication and resemblance, including the argument that beings, if many, must be likes and unlikes, although unlikes cannot be likes. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   stop supportingverbtransitive

   To withdraw one's support or enjoyment from something.

   Similarreject, abandon

   Oppositeembrace, support

   Note

   The click becomes a verdict: undoing the literal "like" button widens into turning away from a brand, a person or a project. Writing to rec.games.pinball in 2010, TheKorn wound up "unliking" Stern Pinball entirely, fed up with its Facebook posts, the word still fenced in scare quotes. It takes a plain direct object, with no preposition between verb and target: you unlike a company, a candidate, a sequel. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • TheKorn posted the cited example to rec.games.pinball in 2010. en.wiktionary.org
   • TheKorn described abandoning Stern Pinball because of its Facebook posts. en.wiktionary.org
   • TheKorn wrote "unliking", enclosed in quotation marks, in the phrase "wound up \"unliking\" stern pinball entirely". en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   adjectivearchaic

   Not likely to happen; improbable or doubtful.

   Note

   In older prose, unlike could do the job that unlikely does now, judging something improbable rather than dissimilar. Modern readers will almost always take it as 'not alike', so this use now invites misreading. Choose unlikely in ordinary writing, and keep this sense for deliberate period style. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Unlike historically meant improbable or unlikely, as distinct from dissimilar. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbarchaic

    To feel dislike toward someone or something.

    Certainly nobody spoke to me, though plenty of them gave me an unliking look.

    2007, Marvin Kaye, The Fair Folk