Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having a resemblance in appearance or nature; alike though not identical.
  • adjective Mathematics Having corresponding angles equal and corresponding line segments proportional. Used of geometric figures.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having characteristics in common; like in form, appearance, size, qualities, relations, etc.; having a more or less marked resemblance to each other or one another; in some respects identical; bearing a resemblance, as to something implied or specified: as, the general features of the two landscapes are similar; the plans are similar.
  • Homogeneous; of like structure or character throughout.
  • In geometry, of the same shape: said of two figures which have all their corresponding angles equal, whence it will follow, for ordinary Euclidean space, that all their corresponding lengths will be proportional, that their corresponding areas will be in the duplicate ratio of their lengths, and that their corresponding volumes will be in the triplicate ratio of their lengths.
  • In biology, alike in some respects; identical to some extent.
  • In music, in the same direction: said of the rising and falling of two voice-parts.
  • noun That which is similar; that which resembles something else in form, appearance, quality, etc.; in the plural, things resembling one another.
  • noun The homeopathic principle of administering drugs. See similia.
  • In the theory of aggregates, similarly arranged; coupled by a one-one relation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.
  • adjective Exactly corresponding; resembling in all respects; precisely like.
  • adjective Nearly corresponding; resembling in many respects; somewhat like; having a general likeness.
  • adjective rare Homogenous; uniform.
  • adjective (Geom.) figures which differ from each other only in magnitude, being made up of the same number of like parts similarly situated.
  • adjective such as have their several angles respectively equal, each to each, and their sides about the equal angles proportional.
  • adjective such as are contained by the same number of similar planes, similarly situated, and having like inclination to one another.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable.
  • adjective 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 operations of rotation, translation and scaling.
  • noun That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc.
  • noun homeopathy A material that produces an effect that resembles the symptoms of a particular disease

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of words) expressing closely related meanings
  • adjective resembling or similar; having the same or some of the same characteristics; often used in combination
  • adjective marked by correspondence or resemblance
  • adjective capable of replacing or changing places with something else; permitting mutual substitution without loss of function or suitability
  • adjective having the same or similar characteristics

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French similaire, from Latin similis, like; see sem- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • If you go to other parts of the planet at similar latitudes and with similar climates, you may find different species of conifers or lycopodia or seed-eating birds, but you'll find _similar_ species making up an ecosystem overall so much like the other that an untrained observer may not notice the difference.

    Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2004

  • Jiau's lawyer, Joanna Hendon, said her client deserved a term similar to the 18 months Rakoff imposed on a co-defendant in the expert-networking investigation.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • Jiau's lawyer, Joanna Hendon, said her client deserved a term similar to the 18 months Rakoff imposed on a co-defendant in the expert-networking investigation.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • The guard had worn an expression similar to the white-clothed man who was leading him at the moment; apparently the boss man wanted all his employees to be resocialized.

    Starcraft II: Devils’ Due Christie Golden 2011

  • Throughout his speech, Mr. Obama made repeated references to Republican plans and ideas, and even used a phrase similar to that employed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia when he talked about American's getting their "fair shake."

    Obama's Bid to Spur Growth Carol E. Lee 2011

  • The guard had worn an expression similar to the white-clothed man who was leading him at the moment; apparently the boss man wanted all his employees to be resocialized.

    Starcraft II: Devils’ Due Christie Golden 2011

  • In the event of a tie for first place at the championship, in both the events, there will be a playoff for the title similar to previous years.

    Archive 2008-03-01 Jan 2008

  • It was a word similar to misunderstanding, which when Grace thought of it now, was like those huge beautiful air balloons, a hundred feet in circumference, that the Japanese had sent across the ocean, nearly ten thousand of them, during the Second World War.

    The Life You Longed For Maribeth Fischer 2007

  • It was a word similar to misunderstanding, which when Grace thought of it now, was like those huge beautiful air balloons, a hundred feet in circumference, that the Japanese had sent across the ocean, nearly ten thousand of them, during the Second World War.

    The Life You Longed For Maribeth Fischer 2007

  • It was a word similar to misunderstanding, which when Grace thought of it now, was like those huge beautiful air balloons, a hundred feet in circumference, that the Japanese had sent across the ocean, nearly ten thousand of them, during the Second World War.

    The Life You Longed For Maribeth Fischer 2007

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