feel like

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

feel like (third-person singular simple present feels like, present participle feeling like, simple past and past participle felt like)

1. To have a desire for something, or to do something.

   I didn't feel like working yesterday, so I called in sick.

2. To perceive oneself to resemble (something); to have the sense of being (something).
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

3. To feel that something is likely to happen; to predict.

   I feel like it will rain all week.

   She felt like the dog could start biting at any moment.

4. To give a perception of something; to appear or to seem

   It felt like rain, but it barely drizzled.

   It feels like Gerald is the likely suspect.

5. (meteorology, impersonal) Denotes the apparent temperature.

Usage notes

• feel like can be followed by either a noun or by a gerund e.g. After a long day chopping wood, I felt like (taking) a bath.

Derived terms

• feel like death
• feel like oneself

Related terms

• would like

Translations

have a desire for something, or to do something

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: ইচ্ছা হওয়া (bn) (iccha hōẇa)
• Catalan: venir de gust (ca), abellir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 想要 (zh) (xiǎngyào), 想 (zh) (xiǎng), 有興趣／有兴趣 (zh) (yǒuxìngqù)

• Danish: have lyst til
• Dutch: zin hebben
• Esperanto: emi (eo)
• Estonian: viitsima
• Finnish: tehdä mieli, huvittaa (fi), viitsiä (fi)
• French: avoir envie (fr) de
• German: Lust haben auf
• Hebrew: בא (he) (ba) (+ the subject in dative case + a verb in nonfinite form or a noun)
• Hungarian: van kedve (hu)
• Icelandic: langa í, nenna
• Ingrian: kehata
• Irish: fonn a bheith ort chun
• Italian: avere voglia di
• Japanese: ほしい hoshii (ほしい hoshii)
• Ladin: avëi ueia de
• Portuguese: ter vontade de, querer (pt), estar a fim de
• Russian: (the person wanting in dative +) хоте́ться (ru) impf (xotétʹsja), (the person wanting in dative +) хоте́лось бы (xotélosʹ by), хоте́ть (ru) impf (xotétʹ) (politeness is expressed by adding бы (by) to the past tense forms, e.g. "я хоте́л(а) бы" - "I'd like" (m/f)), жела́ть (ru) impf (želátʹ)
• Spanish: tener ganas de, apetecer (es), estar por la labor
• Swedish: känna för

perceive oneself to resemble

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感覺自己像／感觉自己像 (gǎnjué zìjǐ xiàng)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tuntua kuin
• French: se sentir comme
• Hungarian: (úgy) érzi magát (, mint/mintha...)
• Portuguese: sentir-se como
• Spanish: sentirse como