different between analogous vs congenial

English

Etymology

From Latin analogus, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (análogos). The application to similar features of organisms is nearly as old as the general sense. Recognizably modern uses of the second sense, distinguishing analagous from homologous, appear in the mid-19th century.

Pronunciation

• (US, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??næl.?.??s/
• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /??næl.?.d??s/

Adjective

analogous (comparative more analogous, superlative most analogous)

1. Having analogy; corresponding to something else; bearing some resemblance or proportion (often followed by "to".)
   • 1828, Thomas De Quincey, Elements of Rhetoric (review)

     Analogous tendencies in arts and in manners.

   • 1872, John Henry Newman, Historical Sketches

     Decay of public spirit, which may be considered analogous to natural death.

   Synonyms: correspondent, like, similar, comparable, parallel

2. (biology) Functionally similar, but arising through convergent evolution rather than being homologous.

Related terms

• analog, analogue
• analogic, analogical
• analogy
• analogousness

Translations

Further reading

• analogous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

References

English

Etymology

con- +? genial

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /k?n?d??i?ni?l/

Adjective

congenial (comparative more congenial, superlative most congenial)

1. Having the same or very similar nature, personality, tastes, habits or interests.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XIX:

     No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms; / This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath / For the fiend's glowing hoof - to see the wrath / Of its black eddy bespate with flakes and spumes.

2. Friendly or sociable.

   The congenial bartender makes the Hog’s Head an inviting place to hang out during the weekends.

3. Suitable to one’s needs.
   • 1961, J. A. Philip, Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato, in Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association 92, page 453-468:

     What was it that made this notion of mimesis, in spite of its inherent difficulties that only the dialectical method enables him to avoid, seem so useful and congenial to Plato?

Antonyms

• uncongenial

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• conga line