To regard something with distaste or aversion; to find unpleasant or disagreeable. Can also function as a noun meaning a feeling of aversion.
Formed in the 16th century by adding the prefix dis- (expressing negation) to 'like.' This represents the English language's tendency to create opposites through prefixes rather than using completely different words, similar to happy/unhappy or agree/disagree.
The word 'dislike' is surprisingly modern - Shakespeare's generation had to say 'mislike' for the same concept. The shift to 'dislike' shows how language evolves toward logical consistency, with 'dis-' becoming the preferred negative prefix in English, even though we still say 'dislike' rather than the more expected 'unlike.'
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