semblance
[sem-bluhns]
- outward aspect or appearance.
- an assumed or unreal appearance; show.
- the slightest appearance or trace.
- a likeness, image, or copy.
- a spectral appearance; apparition.
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Origin of semblance
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
pretenseveneerbearingfiguresimilarityfeelimageaspectfacadeairsimulacrumresemblancemoodmienshowaffinityanalogysimilitudeformshowingExamples from the Web for semblance
Contemporary Examples
And any semblance of normality that had previously existed seemed to have evaporated.
Still, amid the uncertainty the residents of Bab al-Salameh do their best to carve a semblance of order into their lives.
Millions of Refugees from Syria’s War Are Clinging to Life In Toxic ConditionsChristopher Looney
April 14, 2014
And it was clear we would not even maintain a semblance of friendship.
It took months, she said, for any semblance of normality to take root.
First, the Neesonesque action hero must convey some semblance of hard-earned depth, which helps older viewers identify.
Historical Examples
The lawyer, therefore, leaned forward with a semblance of frank eagerness.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
It was merely a semblance, which effaced itself; the vanishing of an illusion.
The DreamEmile Zola
The yards, taken as a whole, have some semblance to a real garden.
The Mystery of Murray DavenportRobert Neilson Stephens
We shall have him,' he cried, ridding himself of the semblance as hastily as he had assumed it.
Barnaby RudgeCharles Dickens
The semblance of a trial followed; he was condemned and transported to Cayenne.
A Zola DictionaryJ. G. Patterson
semblance
- outward appearance, esp without any inner substance or reality
- a resemblance or copy
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French, from sembler to seem, from Latin simulāre to imitate, from similis like
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for semblance
n.
c.1300, "fact of appearing to view," from Old French semblance, from semblant "likeness, appearance," present participle of sembler "to seem, appear," from Latin simulare "to resemble, imitate," from similis "like" (see similar (adj.)). Meaning "person's appearance or demeanor" is attested from c.1400; that of "false, assumed or deceiving appearance" is from 1590s. Meaning "person or thing that resembles another" is attested from 1510s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper