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likeness

noun

Simple meaning

Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

lyknuhs

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlaɪknəs

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things

    “Man created God in his own likeness.”

  2. The state or quality of being like or alike.

  3. That which closely resembles; a portrait.

  4. Appearance or form; guise.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things

Used this way, likeness is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“Man created God in his own likeness.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use likeness

  • “Man created God in his own likeness.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

family likenessgood likenesssome likenessstriking likeness

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • likelyadjectiveDerived adjective

    Has a good chance of being the case or of coming about.

  • likeableadjectiveDerived adjective

    Evoking empathic or sympathetic feelings.

  • likewiseadverbDerived adverb

    In like or similar manner.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons

unlikenessRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.