likeness en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈlaɪknəs/
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”).
Meanings
-
The state or quality of being like or alike.
I bear no likeness to my parents whatsoever.
Erich thought he observed a likeness between the stranger and a relative of Walther; this led them into the chapter of likenesses, and the strange way in which certain forms repeat themselves in families, often most distinctly in the most remote ramifications.
1822, Ludwig Tieck, translated by Connop Thirlwall, The Pictures:
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Appearance or form; guise.
A foe in the likeness of a friend
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis, I, 26
-
That which closely resembles; a portrait.
In a major step, the NCAA Division I Council voted Monday to support an interim policy that would allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) without violating NCAA rules until federal legislation or new NCAA rules are adopted.
2021 June 28, Homero De la Fuente, “NCAA takes big step toward allowing athletes to profit from name, image or likeness”, in CNN, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2021:How he looked, the likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine.
In response to the backlash, OpenAI announced last week that it would begin allowing representatives of “recently deceased” public figures to request that their likeness be blocked from Sora videos.
2025 October 17, Niamh Rowe, “‘Legacies condensed to AI slop’: OpenAI Sora videos of the dead raise alarm with legal experts”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:Donald Trump has decided instead that the NEH’s funds would be better spent on his own dream project: a sprawling sculpture garden with 250 likenesses of people he deems “American heroes.”
2025 April 15, Gal Beckerman, “Looks Like Mussolini, Quacks Like Mussolini”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2025:At this moment Mr. Glentworth's eye fell on a little pencilled sketch of himself. In her joy at seeing the original, Isabella had forgotten the copy. Again a bright scarlet passed over her face; and her companion, from that necessity of saying something which originates more subjects of conversation than any thing else, observed, "I did not know you had a talent for taking likenesses."
1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 141:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| likenesses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
similarity · resemblance · similitude · similarity
Translations (18)
mhr амал (appearance or form; guise) · bg подобие (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · de Abbild (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · bg образ (appearance or form; guise) · tr resim (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · eo aspekto (appearance or form; guise) · la simulācrum (appearance or form; guise) · de Gestalt (appearance or form; guise) · la effigiēs (appearance or form; guise) · es trasunto (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · ga cosúlacht (appearance or form; guise) · eo portreto (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · la effigiēs (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · grc ὁμοιότης (appearance or form; guise) · ga macasamhail (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · ga cosúlacht (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · tr tasvir (that which closely resembles; a portrait) · enm symulacre (that which closely resembles; a portrait)