unliken
unliken verb: to make unlike or describe as being unlike.
Verb
unliken (third-person singular simple present unlikens, present participle unlikening, simple past and past participle unlikened)
- To make unlike or describe as being unlike.
- "To unliken them would make nonsense of any poem," I said.1948, Blackwood's Magazine, volume 264, page 178
- At some time, in a similar mood, Flaubert made an undated entry on the last page of one of his travel notebooks, likening and unlikening his accesses of depression to the midsummer rising of the Nile: 'Oh Nile!'1996, Gustave Flaubert, Flaubert in Egypt, page 151
Forms of unliken
| third-person singular present | unlikens |
|---|---|
| present participle | unlikening |
| past participle | unlikened |
| past | unlikened |
Origin of unliken
From Middle English unliknen, equivalent to un- + liken.
Questions about unliken
- What does unliken mean?
- Unliken means to make unlike or describe as being unlike.
- What part of speech is unliken?
- Unliken is a verb.
- What is the past tense of unliken?
- The past tense of unliken is unlikened.
Words near unliken in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unliken (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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