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): /ˈsɪm.ɪ.lə/, /ˈsɪm.ə.lə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪm.ə.lɚ/, /ˈsɪm.lɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪm.ə.lə/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsəm.ə.lə/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.miː.laː/, /ˈsiː.miu̯.laː/
• Hyphenation: sim‧i‧lar

Adjective

similar (comparative more similar, superlative most similar)

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

   My new car is quite 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) Having the same shape, in particular, having corresponding angles equal and corresponding line segments proportional.
3. (mathematics, linear algebra) Of two square matrices; being such that a conjugation sends one matrix to the other.

Synonyms

• (with common characteristics): akin, allied, alike, comparable, identical, same, twin, homologous, kindred, conformable

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “alike”): different, unlike, dissimilar

Derived terms

• antisimilar
• bisimilar
• haplosimilar
• in a similar vein
• nonsimilar
• oversimilar
• self-similar
• similarily
• similarish
• similariton
• similarity
• similarize
• similarly
• similarness
• similary
• similect
• subsimilar
• unsimilar

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem- (0 c, 892 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) (onurup)
• 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)

  Wu: 差勿多 (¹tsho-veq₈-tu₁)

• Cornish: haval
• Czech: podobný (cs) m
• Danish: lignende, magen til
• Dutch: dergelijk (nl), vergelijkbaar (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)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (galeiks)
• Greek: παρόμοιος (el) (parómoios), όμοιος (el) (ómoios)

  Ancient Greek: 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)
• Ingrian: samantapain, näköin
• Italian: simile (it), somigliante (it), rassomigliante (it)
• Japanese: 似ている (ja) (にている, nite iru)
• Kazakh: сияқты (sıyaqtı), ұқсас (uqsas)
• 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)
• Māori: oropapa
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: лишыл (ĺišyl)

• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: èm

• 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)
• Romansh: 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

  Latin: slȉčan (sh)

• Slovak: podobný
• Slovene: podóben
• Spanish: similar (es), semejante (es), parecido (es), parejo (es), equiparable
• Swedish: 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), müşabih (tr), mümasil (tr)
• Turkmen: meňzeş
• Ukrainian: поді́бний (podíbnyj), схо́жий (sxóžyj)
• Urdu: سمان (samān)
• Uyghur: ئوخشاش (oxshash)
• Uzbek: oʻxshash (uz), oʻxshagan (uz)
• Venetan: somejante, somegiante
• Vietnamese: giống (vi) (𠏳), tựa (vi), như (vi), giống như, tựa như
• 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
• Ukrainian: поді́бний (podíbnyj)

Noun

similar (plural similars)

1. That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.

   Hyponyms: lookalike, soundalike; biosimilar; imitation; simulacrum

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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “similar”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin similāris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central, Northwestern) [si.miˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [si.miˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [si.miˈlaɾ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Adjective

similar m or f (masculine and feminine plural similars)

1. similar

   Synonym: semblant

Related terms

• similitud

Further reading

• “similar”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

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]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /si.miˈlaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /si.miˈla.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: si‧mi‧lar

Adjective

similar m or f (plural similares)

1. similar (having traits or characteristics in common) [with a ‘to someone/something’]

   Synonyms: parecido, semelhante

Further reading

• “similar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “similar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French similaire.

Adjective

similar m or n (feminine singular similară, masculine plural similari, feminine/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 m or f (masculine and feminine 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 [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025