resemblance
Americannoun
-
resemblances
plural
-
the state or fact of resembling; similarity.
- Antonyms:
- difference
-
a degree, kind, or point of likeness.
- Synonyms:
- similitude, analogy
-
a likeness, appearance, or semblance of something.
- Synonyms:
- image
noun
-
the state or quality of resembling; likeness or similarity in nature, appearance, etc
-
the degree or extent to which or the respect in which a likeness exists
-
something resembling something else; semblance; likeness
Synonym Usage
Resemblance, similarity imply that there is a likeness between two or more people or things. Resemblance indicates primarily a likeness in appearance, either a striking one or one which merely serves as a reminder to the beholder: The boy has a strong resemblance to his father. Similarity may imply a surface likeness, but usually suggests also a likeness in other characteristics: There is a similarity in their tastes and behavior.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of resemblance
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, equivalent to resembl(er) “to resemble” resemble + -ance -ance
Explanation
A resemblance is a similarity in appearance. Children usually have a strong resemblance to their biological parents. When you talk about resemblances, you're talking about people or things that look alike in some way. Relatives often have resemblances because they share the same genes. Perhaps you have a resemblance to a famous person. Many people think there's a resemblance between dogs and their owners. If someone draws a picture of you, but it has no resemblance to what you really look like, they did a bad job.
Vocabulary lists containing resemblance
Kindred
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"Phaethon"
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Flush
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Whether or not LIV survives beyond this weekend, what’s left will bear little resemblance to the free-spending upstart that stormed onto the scene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
The story has elements similar to popular summer blockbusters, but they’re so finely remixed and retooled that they don’t bear such exhausting resemblance to their forebears.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Its fibers were also better aligned, giving the new tissue a closer resemblance to natural, healthy bone.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
But the largest reminder of his legacy are his children, Chris Candy and Jennifer Candy-Sullivan, who not only bear a striking resemblance to their parents, but also exude their warmth and spirit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Just as she let the past go, she was determined not to repeat it: my childhood would bear no resemblance to hers.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
The bloggers and columnists, clickbait news sites, and social media influencers promise forensic detail: the way clothes move, the anatomy of the pregnant body, the tone of her denials, the baby’s resemblances.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025
ME/CFS bears striking resemblances to long COVID, with symptoms such as immune system dysregulation, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 14, 2023
Some social media users have come out in support of Wee, including Singaporean poet Daryl Lim, who posted examples of the resemblances between Wee and Haigh's books on Instagram.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2021
Dr. Oates vigorously disputed the charges, saying the resemblances were incidental and the result of a common body of knowledge about Lincoln.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2021
Chacko marveled at how someone so small and undefined, so vague in her resemblances, could so completely command the attention, the love, the sanity, of a grown man.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
