semblance

English

WOTD – 25 November 2025

Etymology

From Middle English semblaunce (“outward appearance, form; appearance without reality; condition or fact of being apparent; symbolic image; facial expression, countenance; conduct, manner; image, likeness; analogy, comparison”),^[1] from Anglo-Norman semblaunce and Old French semblance (modern French semblance), from semblant,^[2] the present participle of sembler (“to appear; to resemble, seem”), from Late Latin similāre, the present active infinitive of similō, a variant of Latin simulō (“to act or behave as if; to imitate, simulate”), from similis (“like resembling, similar to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; together”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). By surface analysis, semble +‎ -ance (suffix forming nouns denoting conditions or states).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛmblən(t)s/
Audio (General American): (file)
(file)
Rhymes: -ɛmbləns
Hyphenation: sem‧blance

Noun

semblance (countable and uncountable, plural semblances)

(countable) The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.
Synonym: veneer
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 134, column 2:
  Oft haue I ſeene a timely-parted Ghoſt, / Of aſhy ſemblance, meager, pale, and bloodleſſe, […]
- 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, signature M2, recto:
  Be you the Souldier, for you likeſt are / For manly ſemblance, and ſmall skill in vvarre: […]
- 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Sonnet VII”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 49:
  Perhaps my ſemblance might deceive the truth, / That I to manhood am arriv'd ſo near, / And invvard ripenes doth much leſs appear, / That ſom more timely-happy ſpirits indu'th.
- 1775, W[illiam] Mason, “Imitations, Variations, and Additional Notes”, in [Thomas] Gray, The Poems of Mr. Gray. […], York, Yorkshire: […] A[nn] Ward; and sold by J[ames] Dodsley, […]; and J[ohn] Todd, […], →OCLC, page 132:
  ACERONIA. […] The eye of Rome / And the Prætorian camp have long rever'd, / VVith cuſtom'd avve, the daughter, ſiſter, vvife, / And mother of their Cæsars. / AGRIPPINA. Ha, by Juno, / It bears a noble ſemblance.
- 1807, William Wordsworth, “Ode [Intimations of Immortality]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, page 153:
  Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie / Thy soul's immensity; […]
- 1865, Matthew Arnold, “Marcus Aurelius”, in Essays in Criticism, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, page 283:
  [I]t may be the vulgar part of human nature which busies itself with the semblance and doings of living sovereigns, it is its nobler part which busies itself with those of the dead; […]
1. Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing when regarded as similar to that of another person or thing.
  - c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], pages 50–51:
    O povverfull Loue, that in ſome reſpects makes a Beaſt a Man: in ſom other, a Man a beaſt. You vvere alſo (Iupiter) a Svvan, for the loue of Leda: O omnipotent Loue, hovv nere the God drevv to the complexion of a Gooſe: a fault done firſt in the forme of a beaſt, (O Ioue, a beaſtly fault:) and then another fault, in the ſemblance of a Fovvle, thinke on't (Ioue) a fovvle [i.e., foul]-fault.
  - 1815, William Wordsworth, “Canto First”, in The White Doe of Rylstone; or The Fate of the Nortons. A Poem, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, page 18:
    He also hath his own conceit: / It is, thinks he, the gracious Fairy, / Who loved the Shepherd Lord to meet / In his wanderings solitary; / […] / 'Twas said that she all shapes could wear; / And oftentimes before him stood, / Amid the trees of some thick wood, / In semblance of a lady fair, […]
2. Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing which is different from what the person or thing actually is; also, an outward appearance of a thing which does not actually exist.
  - 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 75, column 1:
    And other diuels that ſuggest by treaſons, / Do botch and bungle vp damnation, / VVith patches, colours, and vvith formes being fetcht / From gliſt'ring ſemblances of piety: […]
  - 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature C, verso, lines 527–530:
    [H]e his vvonted pride / Soon recollecting, vvith high vvords, that bore / Semblance of vvorth not ſubſtance, gently rais'd / Their fainted courage, and diſpel'd their fears.
  - 1702, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, book II, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, page 95:
    [T]hey had the appearance of a good Body of Men, there being all the ſemblance of great Bodies behind on the other ſide of the Hill; the falſehood of vvhich vvould have been manifeſt as ſoon as they ſhould move from the place vvhere they vvere, and from vvhence they vvere therefore not to ſtir.
  - 1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Poor Relations”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 17:
    Old W—— was a little, busy, cringing tradesman, who, with his son upon his arm, would stand bowing and scraping, cap in hand, to any thing that wore the semblance of a gown— […]
  - 1839 (indicated as 1840), Thomas Carlyle, “Rights and Mights”, in Chartism, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, page 44:
    It is the heyday of Imposture; of Semblance recognising itself, and getting itself recognised, for Substance.
    Treated as a personification.
  - 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 298:
    Carstairs [William Carstares] was forced to content himself with the substance of power, and to leave the semblance to others.
  - 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “The Progress of an Epidemic”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 2nd book (Riches), page 431:
    On the door (when it was shut), appeared the semblance of a brass plate, presenting the description, Happy Cottage, T. and M. Plornish; the partnership expressing man and wife.
  - 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Last Night”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 83–84:
    He was dressed in clothes far too large for him, clothes of the doctor's bigness; the cords of his face still moved with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone; and by the crushed phial in the hand and the strong smell of kernels that hung upon the air, Utterson knew that he was looking on the body of a self-destroyer.
  - 1970, Imre Lakatos, “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, in Imre Lakatos, Alan Musgrave, editors, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science; 4), Cambridge: [Cambridge] University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 176:
    […] one wonders whether the function of statistical techniques in the social sciences is not primarily to provide a machinery for producing phoney corroborations and thereby a semblance of ‘scientific progress’ where, in fact, there is nothing but an increase in pseudo-intellectual garbage.
(countable) Followed by of: a person or thing that is seen; an apparition, a vision.
- 1813, [Walter Scott], “Canto Second”, in The Bridal of Triermain, or The Vale of St John. In Three Cantos, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and Gale, Curtis, and Fenner; […], →OCLC, stanza XXVIII (Lyulph’s Tale), page 100:
  Still she bears her weird [charm or spell] alone, / In the Valley of Saint John. / And her semblance oft will seem / Mingling in a champion's dream, / Of her weary lot to plain, / And crave his aid to burst her chain.
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 2:
  England, seated far north in the turbid sea, now visits my dreams in the semblance of a vast and well-manned ship, which mastered the winds and rode proudly over the waves.
(countable) Followed by of: a person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing; a likeness.
Synonym: portrait
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature I2, verso:
  Then call them not the Authors of their ill, / No more then vvaxe ſhall be accounted euill, / VVherein is ſtampt the ſemblance of a Deuill.
- 1762, Horace Walpole, “Continuation of the State of Painting to the End of Henry VII”, in Anecdotes of Painting in England; […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Farmer […], →OCLC, page 52:
  In this reign died John Rous, the antiquarian of VVarvvickſhire, vvho drevv his ovvn portrait and other ſemblances, but in too rude a manner to be called paintings.
- 1846, [John Ruskin], “General Inferences Respecting Typical Beauty”, in Modern Painters […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part III (Of Ideas of Beauty), section I (Of the Theoretic Faculty), § 4, pages 82–83:
  The fact of our deriving constant pleasure from whatever is a type or semblance of divine attributes, and from nothing but that which is so, is the most glorious of all that can be demonstrated of human nature, it not only sets a great gulf of specific separation between us and the lower animals, but it seems a promise of a communion ultimately deep, close, and conscious, with the Being whose darkened manifestations we here feebly and unthinkingly delight in.
(countable, always in the negative) Followed by of: a bare or mere appearance of something.
- 1828 September, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[Henry] Hallam. […]”, in Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 128:
  When the former [Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset] wished to put his own brother [Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley] to death, without even the semblance of a trial, he found a ready instrument in [Thomas] Cranmer.
(countable) A person's non-verbal behaviour or demeanour which shows their feelings, thoughts, etc., or which is faked to hide such true feelings, thoughts, etc.
- 1569, Richard Grafton, “Edwarde the Fift”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 778:
  And of truth the Protectour [later Richard III of England] and the Duke of Buckingham [Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham] made very good ſembleaunce vnto the Lord Haſtinges [William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings], and kept him much in their company.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 44, page 106:
  And euer vvhen the Prince vnto him ſpake, / He louted lovvly, as did him becum, / And humble homage did vnto him make, / Midſt ſorrovv ſhevving ioyous ſemblance for his ſake.
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 187, column 2:
  VVeele haue a ſvvaſhing and a marſhall outſide, / As manie other manniſh covvards haue, / That doe outface it vvith their ſemblances.
- 1633, Jos[eph Hall], “[A Paraphrase vpon the Hard Texts of the Old Testament.] Proverbs. Chapter XI.”, in A Plaine and Familiar Explication (by Way of Paraphrase) of All the Hard Texts of the Whole Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testament, London: […] Miles Flesher, for Nath[aniel] Butter […], →OCLC, page 224:
  A Diſſembling friend, vvith faire and falſe vvords, and ſemblances, dravveth his neighbour into ſome dangerous inconvenience; but a vviſe and juſt man vvill ſoone perceive his fraud, and avoid him, and the miſchiefe plotted by him.
  A paraphrase of Proverbs 11:9.
- 1726, Homer, “Book XVII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 109, lines 76–77:
  Him, gath'ring round, the haughty Suitors greet / VVith ſemblance fair, but invvard deep deceit.
- 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto IV”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume I (Hell), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 16, lines 77–79:
  No sooner ceas'd the sound, than I beheld / Four mighty spirits toward us bend their steps, / Of semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.
(countable, dated) In the form make semblance: an act of appearing; an appearance, a manifestation; also, a false appearance, a pretence.
- 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act (please specify |act=IIII or V), scene i, signature I2, recto:
  [T]hey all make ſemblance of loathing Piero, and knit their fiſts at him; […]
- 1610, William Camden, “Romans in Britaine”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC, page 813:
  [H]ee vvas ſlain by a ſouldior, that making ſemblance to deliver unto him the keies of the Caſtle hanging at the head of a ſpeare, ranne him into the body vvith it.
- 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Intitl’d to the Prince of Wales”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 224:
  His vvords make ſemblance as if hee vvere magnanimouſly exerciſing himſelf, […]
- 1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 51:
  [B]y his Father baniſh'd, vvith a ſmall number fled thether to him, he [Caligula] made ſemblance of marching tovvard Britain; […]
(uncountable, archaic) The quality or state of being similar; likeness, resemblance, similarity.
- 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:
  I find that holy VVrit in many places / Hath ſemblance vvith this method, vvhere the caſes / Doth call for one thing, to ſet forth another: / Uſe it I may then, and yet nothing ſmother / Truths golden Beams; Nay, by this method may / Make it caſt forth its rayes as light as day.
- 1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, page 138:
  I thought no body had been like me, but I ſee there vvas ſome Semblance 'tvvixt this good man and I, […]
- 1702, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto III. The Girdle, or Love-token. Stanza 67.”, in Charles Beaumont, editor, Psyche, or Love’s Mystery, […], 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] University-Press, for Tho[mas] Bennet, […], →OCLC, page 32, column 1:
  The Reins [of a horse-drawn coach] vvere cloath’d in vvhiteſt ſilk, to hold / Some ’ſemblance to the Hand vvhich them controll’d.
(uncountable, obsolete) The chance of something happening; likelihood, probability.
- 1647, Nath[aniel] Bacon, “Of the Peace”, in An Historicall Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England. The First Part. From the First Times till the Reign of Edward the Third, London: […] Mathew Walbancke […], →OCLC, pages 302–303:
  And yet ſome ſemblance there is that it [a law] vvas yet more ancient, even in the time of Hen[ry] I. if I miſtake not the ſence of that clauſe in his lavvs concerning vagabonds; […]

Alternative forms

semblaunce (obsolete)

Related terms

resemblance
semblant (archaic or obsolete)
semble (obsolete)

Collocations

Terms

semblance of truth

Translations

outward appearance or form of a person or thing — see also appearance

Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} вид (bg) m (vid), ^{(please verify)} лик (bg) m (lik)
Finnish: ulkonäkö (fi)
French: please add this translation if you can

person or thing that is seen — see apparition,‎ vision

person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing — see likeness

bare or mere appearance of something

Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} при́лика (bg) f (prílika)
Finnish: ulkonäkö (fi)
French: please add this translation if you can

person’s non-verbal behaviour or demeanour which shows their feelings, thoughts, etc., or which is faked to hide such true feelings, thoughts, etc.

Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} вид (bg) m (vid)
Finnish: käyttäytyminen (fi), kehonkieli (fi)
French: please add this translation if you can

quality or state of being similar — see also likeness,‎ resemblance,‎ similarity

Bulgarian: подо́бие (bg) n (podóbie), схо́дство (bg) n (shódstvo), при́лика (bg) f (prílika)
Dutch: gelijkheid (nl)
Finnish: ulkonäkö (fi)
German: Anschein (de) m
Hebrew: דמיון (he) m (dimyón)
Irish: amhlachas m
Italian: sembianza (it) f, apparenza (it) f, parvenza (it)
Latin: effigiēs f
Mari:
Eastern Mari: амал (amal)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: likhet (no) m

Nynorsk: please add this translation if you can
Plautdietsch: Änlichkjeit f
Portuguese: semelhança (pt) f
Romanian: asemănare (ro) f, similitudine (ro) f
Russian: подо́бие (ru) n (podóbije), схо́дство (ru) n (sxódstvo)
Scottish Gaelic: coltas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сли̏чно̄ст f, и̏згле̄д m

Latin: slȉčnōst (sh) f, ȉzglēd m
Spanish: semblanza (es) f, parecido (es) m, semejanza (es) f
Swedish: likhet (sv) c
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

References

^ “semblaunce, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “semblance, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “semblance, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.