Dictionary

analogous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /əˈnæl.ə.d͡ʒəs/ (Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈnɛl.ə.ɡəs/ (New-Zealand)
• (California, Southern) audio
• /əˈnæl.ə.ɡəs/ (Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Latin analogus, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́λογος (ănắlogos); Its English equivalent is analogue + -ous. The application to similar features of organisms is nearly as old as the general sense. Recognizably modern uses of the second sense, distinguishing analogous from homologous, appear in the mid-19th century.

Meanings

1. Having analogy, the status of an analogue; corresponding to something else; bearing some resemblance or similar proportion (often followed by "to".)
   • Accustomed as we are to working in small, “bounded” rural communities, anthropologists are often disconcerted by the amorphous and heterogeneous populations of large cities. How are the boundaries of the urban sample to be determined, and how should the fieldworker proceed with his study? As Anthony Leeds has pointed out (1968:31), we often try to solve this problem by concentrating on slums, squatter settlements, or ethnic minorities, on the assumption that they are analogous to the small rural villages we know, and that they can be investigated in similar fashion. Watson, for example, found that even in London he carried the image of the rural village with him from San Tin, the village in the Hong Kong New Territories he had studied. 1974, George M. Foster, Robert V. Kemper, “Introduction: A Perspective on Anthropological Fieldwork in Cities”, in Anthropologists in Cities, Little, Brown and Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 8:
   • Decay of public spirit, which may be considered analogous to natural death. 1872, John Henry Newman, Historical Sketches:
   • Analogous tendencies in arts and in manners. 1828, Thomas De Quincey, Elements of Rhetoric (review)
   • At the very least, it would seem to be tinkering with the formula of the biggest spiritual brand in the world, analogous to Coca-Cola changing its famous recipe in 1985. 2013 September 20, Martina Hyde, “Is the pope Catholic?”, in The Guardian:
2. Functionally similar, but arising through convergent evolution rather than being homologous.

Forms

Deriveds

unanalogous · analogousness · analogous pole · disanalogous · analogously

Relateds

analogical · analogy · analog · analogue · analogic

Synonyms

like · comparable · parallel · similar · correspondent

Translations (36)

bg подо́бен (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · pl analogiczny (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · bg аналоги́чен (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ru подо́бный (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · mi āhua ōrite (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · sv analog (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · pt análogo (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · vo naaloga (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · gl análogo (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ro analog (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · fr analogue (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · fi vastaavanlainen (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ru схо́дный (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · nl analoog (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · sh а̏налоган (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · fi vastaava (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · cs analogický (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ko 유사한 (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · da analog (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · cmn 類似 /类似 (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · eo analoga (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ro analogic (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ar مُمَاثِل (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · cmn 相似 (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · cs obdobný (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · hu analóg (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · bg схо́ден (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ga analógach (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · de analog (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ru аналоги́чный (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · ca anàleg (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · es análogo (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · it analogo (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · nl analoge (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · uk аналогі́чний (having analogy; corresponding to something else) · sh ȁnalogan (having analogy; corresponding to something else)