like [1] (likes plural ) (PREPOSITION AND CONJUNCTION USES)
1 prep If you say that one person or thing is like another, you mean that they share some of the same qualities or features.
He looks like Father Christmas..., Kathy is a great mate, we are like sisters..., It's nothing like what happened in the mid-Seventies..., This is just like old times., ...a mountain shaped like a reclining woman.
2 prep If you talk about what something or someone is like , you are talking about their qualities or features.
What was Bulgaria like?..., What did she look like?..., What was it like growing up in Hillsborough?...
3 prep You can use like to introduce an example of the set of things or people that you have just mentioned.
n PREP n/-ing
(=such as)
The neglect that large cities like New York have received over the past 12 years is tremendous..., He could say things like, `Let's go to the car' or `Let us go for a walk' in French.
4 prep You can use like to say that someone or something is in the same situation as another person or thing.
It also moved those who, like me, are too young to have lived through the war...
5 prep If you say that someone is behaving like something or someone else, you mean that they are behaving in a way that is typical of that kind of thing or person. Like is used in this way in many fixed expressions, for example to cry like a baby and to watch someone like a hawk.
v PREP n
I was shaking all over, trembling like a leaf..., Greenfield was behaving like an irresponsible idiot.
6 prep You can use like in expressions such as that's just like her and it wasn't like him to indicate that the person's behaviour is or is not typical of their character.
v-link PREP n
You should have told us. But it's just like you not to share...
7 conj Like is sometimes used as a conjunction in order to say that something appears to be the case when it is not. Some people consider this use to be incorrect.
(=as if)
On the train up to Waterloo, I felt like I was going on an adventure.
8 conj Like is sometimes used as a conjunction in order to indicate that something happens or is done in the same way as something else. Some people consider this use to be incorrect.
(=as)
People are strolling, buying ice cream for their children, just like they do every Sunday..., He spoke exactly like I did..., We really were afraid, not like in the cinema.
9 prep You can use like in negative expressions such as nothing like it and no place like it to emphasize that there is nothing as good as the situation, thing, or person mentioned.
with neg (emphasis)
There's nothing like candlelight for creating a romantic mood..., There was no feeling like it in the world.
10 prep You can use like in expressions such as nothing like to make an emphatic negative statement.
with neg (emphasis)
Three hundred million dollars will be nothing like enough..., It's really not anything like as bad as it looks.
