nonsimilar

The term nonsimilar describes a relationship between two entities that do not share the characteristics of similarity. In geometry, similarity refers to figures that have equal shape but not necessarily equal size, so two figures that are nonsimilar differ in at least one of the defining properties: they do not have corresponding angles that are equal or corresponding sides that are in proportion. For example, a square and an equilateral triangle are nonsimilar because their internal angles differ.

In biology, nonsimilarity is used to compare species, populations, or individuals that show significant differences in morphology, genetics, or behavior. A nonsimilar species might have distinct evolutionary adaptations that set it apart from closely related taxa.

In computer science and image analysis, nonsimilar objects or patterns are those that fail to match a similarity metric above a threshold. For instance, two digital images that produce a low cosine similarity score or a high structural dissimilarity index are considered nonsimilar by the algorithm.

The opposite of nonsimilar is similar, while synonyms for nonsimilar include dissimilar, unlike, and distinct. In contrast to similarity, which often implies a continuum from identical to partially comparable, nonsimilarity usually indicates a clear absence of shared traits or measurements sufficient to qualify as similar.