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I think most people think the opposite of "like" is "dislike," but when I think about it, I don't think this is true.

"Dislike" actually means that one regards the thing of interest with displeasure. But the opposite of "like" should just be anything that doesn't mean "like" and in this case it could mean "dislike" but it could also mean that one is indifferent/neutral (neither like or dislike) regarding the thing of interest.

So what is actually the opposite of "like?"

This leads me to my next question on if "I don't like X" is the same as "I dislike X?" Based on what I alluded to above, I think the two are different. The think the former doesn't necessarily mean you dislike X, as I think it necessarily covers the case where you feel neutral about X, but I feel most people would interpret "I don't like" as "I dislike."

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  • This is really a philosophical question, rather than a grammatical one. The basic meanings of "like", "dislike", etc are given in dictionaries. Antonyms are less clear-cut than novices and amateurs think: there isn't a big list where every word X has a single antonym that always means not-X. Words mean different things in different contexts.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Feb 11, 2021 at 14:55
  • I think you have pointed out some good nuances among like, dislike, don't like etc so I think the difficulty is deciding on what 'opposite' means.
    – Mitch
    Commented Feb 11, 2021 at 14:56
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    This has been discussed on ELU before. Whether 'opposite' means 'the polar opposite of a stance, attribute etc' or 'the absence of a stance, attitude etc' depends on one's stipulative definition (stipulative definition rather than precising definition, as answers derived using them will conflict).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 11, 2021 at 15:26
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    Have a look at my answer to a similar question.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Feb 11, 2021 at 15:37
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    We say: the opposite of hot is cold. We do not say: the opposite of hot is "warm, cool, cold, or freezing".
    – GEdgar
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 23:37

4 Answers 4

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dislike (verb) = to not like

Cambridge

1: opposite = completely different

OR

2: opposite = being in a position on the other side

Cambridge

The two senses of opposite, although connected, are not the same. It is important to distinguish them:

Using sense 1, dislike (even if it include indifference, neutrality or other shades of partiality), being "not like", is completely different from like, so they are opposites.

Using sense 2, dislike is completely different from like but because "not like" includes indifference, neutrality or other shades of partiality it cannot be seen as having a unique quality or position of being "on the other side" of like.

To give another example. In a completely black and white world, black and white=not black are opposite in sense 1, and in sense 2 (there being only two alternatives). But in a world of many colours, black and white are opposite only in sense 1 but not in sense 2.

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Dislike is the opposite of like in the sense of being its gradable antonym: the two concepts are at the opposite sides of a spectrum that also contains the intermediate concept of indifference. In the terminology of logic, like and dislike are contraries (but one cannot assume that the word contrary would be understood that way in an everyday conversation). On the other hand, not like (which includes both disliking and indifference) is the opposite of like in the sense of being its complementary antonym. In the terminology of logic, like and not like are contradictories. Both dislike and not like are thus the opposites of like; it's just that they are different kinds of opposites. The differences among different kinds of opposites are presented clearly in the Wikipedia article on the topic.

The matter, however, gets more complicated when pragmatic considerations are added to the semantic ones. Even though not like, as a matter of semantics, includes indifference, we rarely say that we don't like something when we are indifferent to it. Indifference is more usually conveyed by something like 'I don't care' or 'it doesn't matter'. Because of that, one's saying that one doesn't like something is often taken to conversationally implicate that one dislikes it.

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Not liking and disliking are different notions but could be the same depending on the situation. For example. If you said to me: Do you like custard? I would say "I don't like custard" and I may add "but I don't dislike it". In this sense 'not liking' does not imply a dislike. If you asked if I like root canal treatment I would say that "I don't like root canal treatment" and in this case I am definitely expressing dislike!

I think it depends on context - like so many things.

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These are what I call 'polarities' - ranges of opposites that exist in life.

You can consider them as 'a range' for example:

like ---- disinterest (neutral) ---- dislike

similarly:

love ----- neutrality ----- indifference love ----- neutrality ----- hate

Polarities can have 'multiple ends' ie some have more than one 'opposite'. Think of the range of a polarity as shades of colours. In the middle, the two colours combine to create various shades of expression.

There are an infinite number of polarities, in life. after the emotions for example, jealousy - letting go, sad - happy, joy - despair, etc there are complex multi-word ones like 'successful at sports' - vs - 'failure at sports'. And everything else under the sun. Polarities form part of our 'palette of colours of expression'.

It is a philosophical question, as a commenter noted. So this is a philosophical answer.

Polarities https://centerforbodylanguage.com/polarities/

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