similitude

Noun

similitude (countable and uncountable, plural similitudes)

1. (uncountable) Similarity or resemblance to something else.
   • So am I tossed on the ebbing tide of life—now in sunshine, now in shade—seemingly free, yet, in reality, fettered by the strong, though slight chain of circumstance. For a small sum, any passenger may enter that boat and direct its course; and here again is similitude. I am at the beck of others.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 150
   • Renaissance man thought in terms of similitudes: the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN)
2. (countable) A way in which two people or things share similitude.
   • Renaissance man thought in terms of 'similitudes': the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN)
3. (countable) Someone or something that closely resembles another; a duplicate or twin.
   • But others declare that no Creature can be made or tranſmuted into a better or vvorſe, or transformed into another ſpecies or ſimilitude, by man, or devill. […] Martinus [i.e., Martin] Delrio the Jeſuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beaſt to be an illuſion, deceptive and repugnant to...1653, John Bulwer, “Scene XXIIII. Cruell and Fantasticall Inventions of Men Practised upon Their Bodies in a Supposed Way of Bravery, and Wicked Practices both of Men and Devils to Alter and Deforme...
   • If I was certain of anything in the world, I was certain that I had seen my brother in the study — nay, more, had touched him, — and equally certain that I had seen his double — his exact similitude, in the garden.1852, Wilkie Collins, Nine O'Clock!
4. A parable or allegory.
   • And he spake many thynges to them in similitudes, sayinge: Beholde, the sower wentt forth to sowe, And as he sowed, some fell by the wayes side [...].1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew
5. (countable) A similarity: a transformation of Euclidean space that preserves angles and the ratios of distances.