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
Three years after winning the Laura look-alike contest, she auditioned to play Laura in the Netflix adaptation through an open casting call, but didn’t get the part.
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
Mick and Jill disappear into the poolroom and James and I sit at the bar, watching Marie and her look-alike husband step dance to country and western music.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
Using a combination of artificial intelligence modeling, genetic screening, and laboratory testing, Duarte and his team confirmed that the M5 motif distinguishes true PET-degrading enzymes from inactive look-alikes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2025
Tepper will buy Chinese look-alikes too as long as they’re not counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
“Hey man, what’s up?” he says to one of the awestruck look-alikes.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2024
The Oscar-nominated “Call Me by Your Name” and “Dune” star made a surprise appearance Sunday at Washington Square Park, where hundreds of fans and look-alikes gathered to crown the one, the only “best Tim.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2024
There were families sheltered in cheap tent trailers, aging hippies in Day-Glo vans, Charles Manson look-alikes sleeping in rusted-out Studebakers that hadn’t turned over since Eisenhower was in the White House.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
