alike
adj.adj. very similar. When two or more people or things are alike, they are almost the same in some way.
adj. having a close resemblance or being very similar to one another.
The two sisters look very much alike.
Despite their different backgrounds, the two friends found their opinions on politics were surprisingly alike.
The historian argued that the fall of the two empires, though separated by centuries, was driven by forces that were fundamentally alike in their corrosive effect on civil society.
The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms: * Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich. * The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms. Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”). Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms: * Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe. * Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka. * Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).
The adjective is used only predicatively (after a linking verb like 'be' or 'seem') and cannot be placed before a noun (e.g., 'the brothers are alike', not '*the alike brothers').
the alike twinsthe twins are alikeLearners often try to use 'alike' before a noun (attributively), but it can only be used after a verb (predicatively).