likeness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlaɪknəs/
Forms: form: likenesses
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”).
Senses: examples: text: I bear no likeness to my parents whatsoever.
text: 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.
ref: 1822, Ludwig Tieck, translated by Connop Thirlwall, The Pictures:
synonyms: similitude
resemblance
similarity
glosses: The state or quality of being like or alike.
examples: text: A foe in the likeness of a friend
text: 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.
ref: Genesis, I, 26
glosses: Appearance or form; guise.
examples: text: How he looked, the likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine.
text: 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."
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.”
ref: 2025 April 15, Gal Beckerman, “Looks Like Mussolini, Quacks Like Mussolini”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2025:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: That which closely resembles; a portrait.
Synonyms: similarity
Derived terms: mislikeness
Related terms: like