- as… as… used when you are comparing two people or things, or two situations
- You're as tall as your father.
- He was as white as a sheet.
- She doesn't play as well as her sister.
- I haven't known him as long as you (= as you have known him).
- He doesn't earn as much as me.
- He doesn't earn as much as I do.
- It's not as hard as I thought.
- Run as fast as you can.
- We'd like it as soon as possible.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- used to say that something happens in the same way
- As always, he said little.
- The ‘h’ in honest is silent, as in ‘hour’.
Which Word? as / likeas / likeYou can use both as and like to say that things are similar.- Like is a preposition and is used before nouns and pronouns:
- He has blue eyes like me.
- As is a conjunction and an adverb and is used before a clause, another adverb or a clause beginning with a preposition:
- She enjoys all kinds of music, as I do.
- As ever, he was friendly and helpful.
- Repeat these five steps, as in the last exercise.
- In informal English like is frequently used as a conjunction or an adverb instead of as:
- Nobody understands him like I do.
- I don’t want to upset him again like before.
- It looks like we’re going to be late.
- as… as… used to emphasize an amount
- As many as 2 million people could be affected.
- The chimp is an endangered species, with as few as 170 000 chimps left in the wild.
Word OriginMiddle English: reduced form of Old English alswā ‘similarly’ (see also).
Check pronunciation:
as