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:
Its resemblance to the 56-year-old British luxury brand has earned the Jaecoo a double-edged nickname: the Temu Range Rover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
A humanoid’s frantic attempts to stay upright—arms flailing, legs skittering—bears an uncanny resemblance to the choreographed collapses of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
His character Boswell Hyde—a “self-possessed pear-shaped young man in his rumpled seersuckers and his jaunty bow tie”—bears a close resemblance to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., the Harvard professor and adviser to John F. Kennedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The resemblance might have ended there, except Kennedy recently told an interviewer that he eats beef twice a day, generally grass-fed strip steak.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
Klin, who bears a striking resemblance to the actor Martin Short, is half Israeli and half Brazilian, and he speaks with an understandably peculiar accent.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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
She notices resemblances between certain attendees and her grandmother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
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
Banks, now 82, claims that there are “many unsettling parallels and resemblances between my own story and Harley Mann’s.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2022
“That is quite...mature. Kamau has taught you well. I see the resemblances between the two of you more clearly than ever.”
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
