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:

     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) (onurūp)
• 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

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.

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

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

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