semblance


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sem·blance

 (sĕm′bləns)
n.
1. An outward or token appearance: "Foolish men mistake transitory semblance for eternal fact" (Thomas Carlyle).
2. A representation; a copy.
3. The barest trace; a modicum: not a semblance of truth to the story.

[Middle English, from Old French, from sembler, to resemble; see semblable.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

semblance

(ˈsɛmbləns)
n
1. outward appearance, esp without any inner substance or reality
2. a resemblance or copy
[C13: from Old French, from sembler to seem, from Latin simulāre to imitate, from similis like]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sem•blance

(ˈsɛm bləns)

n.
1. outward aspect or appearance.
2. an assumed or unreal appearance; show.
3. the slightest appearance or trace.
4. a likeness, image, or copy.
5. a spectral appearance; apparition.
[1250–1300; < Middle French, <sembl(er) to seem (see resemble)]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.semblance - an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different color"
appearance, visual aspect - outward or visible aspect of a person or thing
color of law, colour of law - a mere semblance of legal right; something done with the apparent authority of law but actually in contravention of law; "the plaintiff claimed that under color of law the officer had deprived him of his civil rights"
simulacrum - an insubstantial or vague semblance
face value - the apparent worth as opposed to the real worth
guise, pretence, pretext, pretense - an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them"
camouflage, disguise - an outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something; "the theatrical notion of disguise is always associated with catastrophe in his stories"
verisimilitude - the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true
2.semblance - an erroneous mental representationsemblance - an erroneous mental representation  
fantasm, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, shadow, apparition - something existing in perception only; "a ghostly apparition at midnight"
appearance - a mental representation; "I tried to describe his appearance to the police"
irradiation - the apparent enlargement of a bright object when viewed against a dark background
phantom limb - the illusion that a limb still exists after it has been amputated
3.semblance - picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing
Identikit, Identikit picture - a likeness of a person's face constructed from descriptions given to police; uses a set of transparencies of various facial features that can be combined to build up a picture of the person sought
ikon, picture, icon, image - a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface; "they showed us the pictures of their wedding"; "a movie is a series of images projected so rapidly that the eye integrates them"
portrait, portrayal - any likeness of a person, in any medium; "the photographer made excellent portraits"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

semblance

noun appearance, show, form, air, figure, front, image, bearing, aspect, mask, similarity, resemblance, guise, façade, pretence, veneer, likeness, mien They had nursed Peter back to some semblance of health.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

semblance

noun
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
شِبْه، مَظْهَر خارجي
podobazdání
líking, svipur, mynd
līdzībalīdzīgums

semblance

[ˈsembləns] Napariencia f
when they have restored the country to some semblance of ordercuando hayan devuelto al país cierta apariencia de normalidad
without a semblance of regretsin mostrar ningún remordimiento
without a semblance of fearsin dar señal alguna de miedo
to put on a semblance of sorrowprocurar mostrarse or parecer triste
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

semblance

[ˈsɛmbləns] nsemblant m
a semblance of sth → un semblant de qch
At least a semblance of normality has been restored to parts of the country → Certaines parties du pays ont retrouvé au moins un semblant de normalité.
some semblance of sth → un semblant de qch
They had nursed Peter back to some semblance of health → Il avaient soigné Peter et lui avaient redonné un semblant de santé.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

semblance

n (with def art) → Anschein m(of von); (with indef art) → Anflug m(of von); without a semblance of a smileohne den leisesten Anflug eines Lächelns; to maintain some semblance of orderden Anschein von Ordnung wahren; he had the semblance of an experienced lawyerer erweckte den Anschein eines erfahrenen Anwalts; I saw in him the semblance of his father (liter)ich konnte in ihm die Ähnlichkeit mit seinem Vater erkennen; it possessed some semblance of reality (liter)es schien beinahe Wirklichkeit zu sein (liter)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

semblance

[ˈsɛmbləns] nparvenza, apparenza
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

semblance

(ˈsembləns) noun
an appearance or likeness. I have to coach them into some semblance of a football team by Saturday.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
'The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae [freak of nature].
in their vivid colouring of life - As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife Of semblance with reality which brings To the delirious eye more lovely things Of Paradise & Love - & all our own!
I have subdued him entirely by sentiment and serious conversation, and made him, I may venture to say, at least half in love with me, without the semblance of the most commonplace flirtation.
If she survive, the tender- ness will either be crushed out of her, or -- and the outward semblance is the same -- crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.
Beyond the shadow of any doubt he is convinced that the universe was made for him, and that it is his destiny to live for ever in the immaterial and supersensuous realms he and his kind have builded of the stuff of semblance and deception.
So like a choice casket is it secreted in him, that I have known some whalemen who peremptorily deny that the Sperm Whale has any other brain than that palpable semblance of one formed by the cubic-yards of his sperm magazine.
In those days conversation was still cultivated as an art; a neat repartee was more highly valued than the crackling of thorns under a pot; and the epigram, not yet a mechanical appliance by which the dull may achieve a semblance of wit, gave sprightliness to the small talk of the urbane.
Between Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible.
The profound and treacherous night with its silence and semblance of peace settled upon the camp.
She has money enough to live very comfortably, if she only knew how to use it judiciously, and had taught her son to do the same; but she is ever straining to keep up appearances, with that despicable pride that shuns the semblance of poverty as of a shameful crime.
Kindness, which had been the food of my life through so many years, had lately been so entirely denied me, that I welcomed with grateful joy the slightest semblance of it.
Seek out a new and better life in another country and carve thy future into the semblance of glory and honor."