likeness

Syllables: like·ness/ˈlaɪknəs/

likeness noun: the state or quality of being like or alike.

Noun

likeness (plural likenesses)

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
Synonyms:

similitude, resemblance, similarity
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.
- How he looked, the likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine.
- 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...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

Verb

likeness (third-person singular simple present likenesses, present participle likenessing, simple past and past participle likenessed)

(archaic, transitive) To depict.
- I have this morning received the photographs of my two boys. The eldest is very well likenessed: the other, perhaps, not so well.1857, April 25, Alfred Lord Tennyson, letter to Reginald Southey, in Cecil Y. Lang and Edgar F. Shannon Jr. (editors), The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Volume II: 1851-1870, Belknap Press (1987)...
- Every member of the family [of General Grant] is as faithfully likenessed as the photographs, which were given to the artist from the hands of the General himself, have power to express.1868, November, advertisement, in Arthur's Home Magazine, Volume XXXII, Number 21, after page 320

likeness meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

likeness in Hindi

likeness, representation; idol: प्रतिरूप pratirūp
likeness, resemblance: भेस bhes
a likeness, portrait: छबि chabi

likeness in Urdu

likeness, embodiment: مورت mūrat
likeness: اتفاق ittifāq, مان mān

likeness in Malayalam

likeness, similarity: സായുജ്യം sāyujyaṁ

More languagesFewer languages

likeness in Kannada: ಪ್ರತಿಮೆ pratime
likeness in Punjabi: ਚਿੱਤਰ cittar
likeness in Sanskrit: साम sāma, सायुज्य sā́yujya, साम्य sāmya, रूपक rūpaka

Examples of likeness in a sentence

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:
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...

All 29 example sentences with likeness

Synonyms of likeness

Forms of likeness

Noun
plural	likenesses
Verb
third-person singular present	likenesses
present participle	likenessing
past participle	likenessed
past	likenessed

Plural of likeness: likenesses

Origin of likeness

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”).

Words formed from likeness

mislikeness

Questions about likeness

What does likeness mean?: Likeness means the state or quality of being like or alike.
What is likeness in Hindi?: Likeness in Hindi is प्रतिरूप (pratirūp), भेस (bhes), छबि (chabi). See Likeness meaning in Hindi.
How do you use likeness in a sentence?: 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.”
What part of speech is likeness?: Likeness can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce likeness?: Likeness is pronounced /ˈlaɪknəs/.
What is the plural of likeness?: The plural of likeness is likenesses.

Words near likeness in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-likeness.wav.

Cite this entry: “likeness.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/likeness. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.