Likeness
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The state or quality of being like or alike.
"I bear no likeness to my parents whatsoever."
- 2 picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing wordnet
- 3 Appearance or form; guise.
"A foe in the likeness of a friend"
- 4 similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things wordnet
- 5 That which closely resembles; a portrait.
"How he looked, the likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine."
- 1 To depict. archaic, transitive
"I have this morning received the photographs of my two boys. The eldest is very well likenessed: the other, perhaps, not so well."
Example
More examples"He bears a strong likeness to my son."
Etymology
From Middle English liknesse, from Old English līcness, ġelīcnes (“the quality of being like or equal; likeness; image; copy; pattern; example; parable”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīkanassī (“likeness”), equivalent to like + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian likenis (“likeness”), Dutch gelijkenis (“similarity; likeness; parable”), German Low German Glieknis (“form; semblance; likeness; parable”), German Gleichnis (“form; semblance; image; likeness; parable; simile”). The verb is derived from the noun. Compare also Old Norse líkneskja (“figure, image, appearance, likeness”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.