Word: semblance Part of Speech: noun 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”), from Anglo-Norman semblaunce and Old French semblance (modern French semblance), from semblant, 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: /ˈsɛmblən(t)s/ 1. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing. Labels: countable Example: Oft haue I ſeene a timely-parted Ghoſt, / Of aſhy ſemblance, meager, pale, and bloodleſſe, […] Example: Be you the Souldier, for you likeſt are / For manly ſemblance, and ſmall skill in vvarre: […] 2. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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, […] 3. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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: […] Example: [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. 4. Followed by of: a person or thing that is seen; an apparition, a vision. Labels: countable Example: 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. Example: 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. 5. Followed by of: a person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing; a likeness. Labels: countable Example: 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. Example: 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. 6. Followed by of: a bare or mere appearance of something. Labels: countable Example: 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. 7. 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. Labels: countable Example: 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. Example: 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. 8. In the form make semblance: an act of appearing; an appearance, a manifestation; also, a false appearance, a pretence. Labels: countable, dated Example: [T]hey all make ſemblance of loathing Piero, and knit their fiſts at him; […] Example: [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. 9. The quality or state of being similar; likeness, resemblance, similarity. Labels: archaic, uncountable Example: 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. Example: I thought no body had been like me, but I ſee there vvas ſome Semblance 'tvvixt this good man and I, […] 10. The chance of something happening; likelihood, probability. Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: 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; […]