likeness

noun
/ˈlaɪknəs/

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”).

  1. inherited from *galīkanassī — “likeness
  2. inherited from līcness
  3. inherited from liknesse

Definitions

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

    • I bear no likeness to my parents whatsoever.
  2. Appearance or form

    Appearance or form; guise.

    • A foe in the likeness of a friend
  3. That which closely resembles

    That which closely resembles; a portrait.

    • How he looked, the likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine.
  4. + 1 more definition
    1. 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.
      • 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.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at likeness. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01likeness02closely03privately04private05confidential06inclined07likelihood

A definitional loop anchored at likeness. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at likeness

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA