What does dissimile mean?
A dissimile is a rhetorical device in which a speaker makes a comparison using 'like' or 'as' while simultaneously signalling that the two things compared are genuinely unlike one another. Where an ordinary simile affirms a resemblance ('brave as a lion'), a dissimile deliberately undercuts itself: 'my job is like a vacation — except for all the work.' The result is often ironic, playful, or self-deprecating, making the device popular among writers and comedians who want to gesture toward a comparison without fully committing to it. The word derives from Latin dissimilis, meaning 'unlike', and remains rare outside scholarly discussion of rhetoric and literary style. Though uncommon in everyday speech, dissimile offers a precise name for a familiar comic move, and knowing it gives readers and writers a sharper vocabulary for describing how language can both assert and retract meaning in a single breath.
nounA figure of speech in which a comparison using 'like' or 'as' explicitly draws attention to the fact that the two things being compared are unlike each other; a self-aware or ironic simile.
- A comparison introduced by 'like' or 'as' that explicitly signals the two things compared are unlike each other, often for ironic or humorous effect.
"'Life is like a box of chocolates — actually, nothing at all like one,' she said, deploying a dissimile to undercut her own metaphor."
"The novelist's fondness for the dissimile gave her prose a wry, self-mocking charm."
"'My love is like a red, red rose — though honestly it isn't,' he said, offering a dissimile rather than a sincere declaration."
Regular English plural; used when discussing multiple instances of the figure in literary analysis.
"Shakespeare's sonnets contain few dissimiles, preferring earnest simile instead."
A dissimile is a simile that admits it's lying: 'X is like Y — well, not really.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dissimile
Dissimile comes from Latin dissimilis, meaning 'unlike' or 'not similar', formed from the prefix dis- ('apart', 'not') plus similis ('like'). It entered English as a learned coinage within rhetoric, modelled on the older word simile (itself from Latin similis), essentially denoting the opposite rhetorical stance. Its cognates include dissimilar, dissimilarity, and similarity.
How dissimile is actually used
"Dissimile" is a rare and largely technical term found chiefly in discussions of rhetoric and literary criticism; it does not appear in most standard dictionaries. It should not be confused with "dissemble" (to conceal one's feelings) or "dissimilar" (unlike).
Easily confused with dissimile
A simile directly asserts a resemblance between two things using 'like' or 'as', whereas a dissimile uses the same structure while pointedly denying or undermining the resemblance.