Talk:look like

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Kept. See archived discussion of February 2008. 07:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

RFC discussion: July 2007–June 2010[edit]

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


The two senses seem to be an avalent and a copula sense of "look" with the preposition "like". Do they belong at "look"? Rod (A. Smith) 19:09, 17 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm. I think this deserves its own entry, though I'm not sure that the first sense currently on the page is worth retaining here. It looks like it's only a particular use of "like", and is synonymous with "look as though". However, the second definition isn't synonymous with the same set of uses. Rather, the second definition is synonymous with "resemble", so its meaning is equicalent to that of other words-in-their-own-right. There's also a third sense, as evidenced by the construction: "It looks like rain," which isn't covered by either of the existing definitions. That puts two solid definitions on this one contstruction (if we discount the existing first one), neither of which shares the same set of synonymous expressions as the other. --EncycloPetey 19:54, 17 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I probably didn't express myself clearly. I wasn't RFD'ing the entry, but rather RFC-ing it because I think the definitions belong at "look" noting their use with "like". The idiomatic sense seems part of the verb "look" with a normal sense of the word "like". Consider the following:
  • It looks like I'm stuck with you.
  • It looks as though I'm stuck with you.
  • Ostriches look like emus to some people, but they are only distantly related.
  • Ostriches look similar to emus to some people, but they are only distantly related.
Rod (A. Smith) 16:35, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Idiom dictionaries have look like, feel like, sound like, seem like, all meaning "appear". Expressions of the form "it '[verb] like' trouble" are like sense 2. Though the expressions is not directly obvious in meaning the problem seems to stem from the "it" construction rather than from the phrasal verb. DCDuring TALK 03:38, 14 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

look alike[edit]

Like "look like", "look alike" probably belongs on "look". Consider these two sentences:

  • They look alike.
  • They look identical.

Rod (A. Smith) 18:24, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, a look alike should be listed as a noun as well. But "look like" seems to be sum-of-parts. --Connel MacKenzie 18:29, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For example, "The Dodge Shadow was more than a look alike of the Plymouth Sundance; they actually were the same car with only a nameplate change." --Connel MacKenzie 18:33, 18 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]


SoP?[edit]

LIKE (preposition) as if there is promise of; indicative of: It looks like rain. 2.as if someone or something gives promise of being: She looks like a good prospect for the job. --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:31, 27 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Context: customer says they need a pair of green socks, so the seller browse a big pile and when the socks are found at the bottom they say to the customer "well, looks like you." --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:35, 2 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]