likening 1 of 2

present participle of liken
1
as in comparing
to describe as similar he generally likened a root canal to some horrible form of torture

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2

likening

2 of 2

noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of likening
Noun
Farahani has often talked about the pain of exile, likening being separated from her native country to losing a limb. Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 9 Sep. 2025 Florida’s Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, announced on Wednesday that the state would end all vaccine mandates, likening them to slavery. Connor Greene, Time, 3 Sep. 2025 Protests broke out in several cities, including a hanging of the billionaire in effigy in Milan and posters in London likening him to a Nazi. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2025 Critics also argue that the deals treat African nations as political bargaining chips, with legal experts likening the practice to human trafficking. Amanda Castro hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025 Homar argues that destinations should have the right to choose their visitors, likening it to deciding whom to invite to dinner. Julia Buckley, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2025 Carano, in the past, has posted on social media likening modern political divides to the Holocaust and mocking people who wore masks during the pandemic. Elizabeth Maline, NBC news, 8 Aug. 2025 Norselapsis straddles both anatomies, with researchers likening it to a human whose arms extended from behind their cheeks. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for likening
Verb
  • Over the past decade, skyscrapers continued to rise in the Brickell area, on the south side of the Miami River and the downtown core, with some comparing it to Manhattan south.
    Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
  • The statement further addressed the context of the tribute, comparing it to other moments of silence following tragedies.
    Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • That’s in comparison to some left-wing posters on social media who reacted to Kirk's death, according to NPR.
    Carlie Procell, USA Today, 14 Sep. 2025
  • For comparison’s sake, though, the now somewhat redundant Super Mario 3D All-Stars also contained the first Super Mario Galaxy and bizarrely went out of print back in 2021.
    Mitch Wallace, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • For their part, Israeli leaders discovered the political utility of equating such hostility with Europe’s fascist past.
    Daniel May, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Stop equating stress with success.
    Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • The video of serene waves that swished behind the curved stage at the start of Dua Lipa’s concert slowly intensified until the tide became a surge, an appropriate analogy for the pop superstar’s arrival in the US for the first time in more than three years.
    Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Simmons made an analogy of Jenkins at the wheels of FIU’s offense.
    Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Typhur’s new Sync appliances change that equation entirely.
    Matt Emma, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The first prediction, devised by New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr in 1963, builds upon Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and states that black holes should be paradoxically simple objects, described by a single equation.
    Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Likening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/likening. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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