look-alike
Americannoun
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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
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.
Whether you know it or not, you have probably seen the Eames Lounge Chair—or at least a look-alike.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
The long and unexpected afterlife of the Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 3, 2025
To test whether look-alike spiders were masking more than one species, Jochim and colleagues examined genomic DNA from Aptostichus simus collected throughout its range.
From Science Daily • Nov. 2, 2025
That’s the beauty of a Chalamet look-alike competition.
From Salon • Oct. 29, 2024
Or, You didn’t know she had a look-alike twin in Arizona!
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
