We really were afraid, not like in the cinema.

[WilliamTaft]

An example sentence using the conjunction "like" in the Collins Dictionary: We really were afraid, not like in the cinema.

What does it mean?

 

[emsr2d2]

Here, "not like" means "unlike".

 

[jutfrank]

It doesn't make much sense out of context so we can't say with any confidence.

(By the way, like isn't a conjunction. It's a preposition.)

 

[Tarheel]

My only guess is that it means the situation is real -- not that the emotion is real.

 

[5jj]

We really were afraid, not like in the cinema.

What does it mean?

We experienced genuine fear, nothing like the feeling we experiece in, for example, watching a horror film

 

[emsr2d2]

Alternatively, it could mean "We experienced genuine fear, unlike in the cinema, where we weren't really afraid". That's the problem with having no context!

 

[Tarheel]

In my humble opinion, the emotion is real in either case. However, at the cinema (in American English, the movies), the situation is not real.