similar

similar

See also: similär

English

Mathematics: Figures shown in the same color are similar

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

similar (comparative more similar, superlative most similar)

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

   My new car is 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 731476803:

     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) Of geometrical figures including triangles, squares, ellipses, arcs and more complex figures, having the same shape but possibly different size, rotational orientation, and position; in particular, having corresponding angles equal and corresponding line segments proportional; such that one can be had from the other using a sequence of rotations, translations and scalings.
3. (mathematics, linear algebra) Of two square matrices; being such that a conjugation sends one matrix to the other.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• (alike): different, unlike, dissimilar

Derived terms

• similarity
• similarly
• similarness

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem-‎ (0 c, 73 e)

Translations

having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable

Albanian: i ngjashëm (sq) Arabic: مُمَاثِل‎ (ar) (mumāṯil) Armenian: նման (hy) (nman) Asturian: paecíu, semeyante Azerbaijani: oxşar (az), bənzər (az) Belarusian: падо́бны (padóbny) Bengali: অনুরূপ (bn) (ônurūp) Bulgarian: подо́бен (bg) (podóben), сходен (bg) (shoden) Burmese: ဆန် (my) (hcan) Catalan: similar (ca), semblant (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 差唔多 (yue) (caa1 m4 do1) Mandarin: 類似／类似 (zh) (lèisì), 差不多 (zh) (chàbùduō), 相似 (zh) (xiāngsì) Cornish: haval Czech: podobný (cs) m Danish: lignende Dutch: gelijkend (nl), soortgelijk (nl) Esperanto: simila Evenki: урэлды (urəldi) Faroese: líkur, líknandi, átøkur, álíkur Finnish: samanlainen (fi) French: similaire (fr), semblable (fr) m or f Friulian: someant, pareli, simil Galician: semellante (gl) Georgian: მსგავსი (ka) (msgavsi) German: ähnlich (de), vergleichbar (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (galeiks) Greek: παρόμοιος (el) (parómoios), όμοιος (el) (ómoios) Ancient: ὅμοιος (hómoios) Hebrew: דומה‎ m (domé), משול‎ m (mashúl) Hindi: समान (hi) (samān), अनुरूप (anurūp) Hungarian: hasonló (hu) Ido: simila (io) Indonesian: serupa (id), mirip (id) Italian: simile (it), somigliante (it), rassomigliante (it) Japanese: 似ている (ja) (にている, nite iru) Kazakh: сияқты (kk) (siäqty), ұқсас (kk) (ūqsas) Khmer: ដូច (km) (douc) Korean: 비슷하다 (ko) (biseuthada), 같다 (ko) (gatda) Kyrgyz: окшош (ky) (okşoş) Lao: ຄ້າຍ (lo) (khāi) Latin: similis (la) Latvian: līdzīgs Lithuanian: panašus Luxembourgish: ähnlech Macedonian: сличен (sličen) Malay: serupa Malayalam: സമാന (ml) (samāna) Maori: oropapa Norwegian: Bokmål: lignende, liknende Nynorsk: liknande Occitan: semblant (oc), semblari Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: подобьнъ (podobĭnŭ) Old East Slavic: подобьнъ (podobĭnŭ) Old English: gelīc Persian: مشابه‎ (fa) (mošâbe), مانند‎ (fa) (mânand), شبیه‎ (fa) (šabih) Plautdietsch: dämänlich Polish: podobny (pl) Portuguese: parecido (pt), semelhante (pt), similar (pt) Romanian: similar (ro), asemănător (ro) Romansch: sumegliant, semegliont, samagliànt, sumigliaint, sumgiaint, sumgliaint Russian: подо́бный (ru) (podóbnyj), похо́жий (ru) (poxóžij), схо́жий (ru) (sxóžij), схо́дный (ru) (sxódnyj) Scottish Gaelic: coltach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сли̏чан Roman: slȉčan (sh) Slovak: podobný Slovene: podóben Spanish: similar (es), semejante (es), parecido (es), parejo (es), equiparable Swedish: lik (sv), liknande (sv) Tagalog: hawig, kahawig Tajik: монанд (tg) (monand), шабеҳ (šabeh), мушобеҳ (mušobeh) Tatar: охшаш (oxşaş), охшаган (oxşağan) Thai: คล้าย (th) (kláai) Turkish: benzer (tr) Turkmen: meňzeş Ukrainian: поді́бний (podíbnyj), схо́жий (sxóžyj) Urdu: سمان‎ (samān) Uyghur: ئوخشاش‎ (oxshash) Uzbek: oʻxshash (uz), oʻxshagan (uz) Venetian: somejante, somegiante Vietnamese: giống (vi) (𠏳) Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

of geometric figures, having the same shape

Armenian: նման (hy) (nman) Bulgarian: подобен (bg) (podoben) Chinese: Mandarin: 相似 (zh) (xiāngsì) Czech: podobný (cs) Finnish: yhdenmuotoinen Georgian: მსგავსი (ka) (msgavsi) German: ähnlich (de) Greek: όμοιος (el) (ómoios) Hebrew: דומה‎ (domé) Icelandic: einslaga, einslagaður, einshyrndur Italian: simile (it) Japanese: 相似 (ja) (sōji) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: hevşêwe (ku) Polish: podobny (pl) m Romanian: asemenea (ro) Russian: подо́бный (ru) (podóbnyj) Serbo-Croatian: sùkladan (sh) Spanish: semejante (es) Tagalog: hawig, kahawig

Noun

similar (plural similars)

1. That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.
2. (homeopathy) A material that produces an effect that resembles the symptoms of a particular disease.

Further reading

• similar in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• similar in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin similāris.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /si.miˈla/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlar/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɾ/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

similar (masculine and feminine plural similars)

1. similar

   Synonym: semblant

Related terms

• similitud

Further reading

• “similar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaʁ/ [si.miˈlah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaʁ/ [si.miˈlah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaʁ/ [si.miˈlaχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɻ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɾ/

• Hyphenation: si‧mi‧lar

Adjective

similar m or f (plural similares)

1. similar (having traits or characteristics in common)

   Synonyms: parecido, semelhante

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Romanian

Etymology

From French similaire.

Adjective

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

1. similar

Declension

Declension of similar

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	similar		similară	similari	similare
	definite	similarul		similara	similarii	similarele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	similar		similare	similari	similare
	definite	similarului		similarei	similarilor	similarelor

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Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

similar (plural similares)

1. similar

   Synonyms: semejante, parecido, símil (rare)

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

Derived terms

• similarmente

Related terms

• similitud

Further reading

• “similar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014