dissemblance

¹ American  

[dih-sem-bluhns] / dɪˈsɛm bləns /

noun

1. dissimilarity; unlikeness.

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dissemblance ² American  

[dih-sem-bluhns] / dɪˈsɛm bləns /

noun

1. dissembling; dissimulation.

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Etymology

Origin of dissemblance¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English word from Middle French word dessemblance. See dis- ¹, semblance

Origin of dissemblance²

First recorded in 1550–60; dissemble + -ance

Example Sentences

Diana’s story is, for better and worse, the ultimate proof that glamour is not the same as happiness; indeed, it is an art of dissemblance.

From Los Angeles Times

Before you even get to the obscenity of excess, the first thought has to be for the lifetime of resentment and dissemblance these families are storing up, as that one-year-old immediately forgets it ever happened, then spends a decade pretending not to have forgotten, before exploding in teenage rage: “It’s actually not my fault that I can’t remember it, it’s a function of human memory.”

From The Guardian

For one thing, West’s never been prone to cagey dissemblance—massively unfiltered self-expression accounts for at least five out of seven of his deadliest sins.

From Slate

“The government at present is merely engaging in verbal dissemblance,” Chan said.

From Seattle Times

As a result, the historian Darlene Clark Hine has written, black women developed a “culture of dissemblance” that “created the appearance of openness and disclosure but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors.”

From The New Yorker