look-alike
Americannoun
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look-alikes
plural
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a person or thing that looks like or closely resembles another; double.
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a compatible.
The leading brand of computer was expensive so they bought cheap look-alikes.
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a pill or capsule that contains nonprescription stimulants, as caffeine and ephedrine, but is made to appear like one containing illegal or prescription stimulants, as amphetamine or biphetamine.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of look-alike
First recorded in 1945–50; noun use of verb phrase look alike
Explanation
A look-alike is someone who looks almost exactly like another person. Running into your look-alike in a big city would be quite shocking. Some look-alikes are related, like identical twins or cousins who resemble each other to an uncanny degree. Other look-alikes are so similar to celebrities that they can make a living impersonating them. If you are a Michael Jackson look-alike, you could dress like the singer and perform at a talent show, lip syncing his song "Billie Jean" and attempting the moonwalk. Look-alike is an American word, coined around 1937.
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:
She once quietly entered a Dolly Parton drag queen look-alike contest -- and lost.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Daily Star gives readers a laugh with a "photo exclusive" of a Lionel Messi look-alike, with the impersonator saying he "backs England" in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
On one trip, then 6-year-old Bridget won a Laura look-alike contest in a handmade pinafore and bonnet sewn by her grandmother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
In 2023, the Village People’s manager reportedly sent the campaign a cease-and-desist letter after a look-alike group was hired to perform the song “Macho Man” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
There they were, awaiting PapS, four little girls in look-alike pale yellow gingham dresses.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Tepper will buy Chinese look-alikes too as long as they’re not counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
So having a competition solely dedicated to him, in which thousands of ogling fans and hopeful look-alikes traveled both near and far to attend, is incredibly Gen-Z coded.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2024
Second, they designed and constructed four novel CBN analogs -- chemical look-alikes -- in which those fragments were amplified, then moved them on to drug screening.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
And now the Times, which purchased the game in 2022, is sending takedown notices to people behind some of the look-alikes.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 12, 2024
"Oh, they're just look-alikes sent by the enchanters. My enemies enjoy confusing me," he said.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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.
