HOW TO PRONOUNCE
semblance
/ˈsɛmblən(t)s/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does semblance mean?
noun
- The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.
- Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing when regarded as similar to that of another person or thing.
- Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing which is different from what the person or thing actually is; also, an outward appearance of a thing which does not actually exist.
More meanings (7)
noun
- Followed by of: a person or thing that is seen; an apparition, a vision.
- Followed by of: a person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing; a likeness.
- Followed by of: a bare or mere appearance of something.
- 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.
- (dated) In the form make semblance: an act of appearing; an appearance, a manifestation; also, a false appearance, a pretence.
- (archaic) The quality or state of being similar; likeness, resemblance, similarity.
- (obsolete) The chance of something happening; likelihood, probability.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈsɛmblən(t)s/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
For eleven years she had worthily striven to maintain some semblance of household order amid conditions that made order very difficult.
Between Barbicane’s proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible.
More book examples (3)
There was no great passion in her, but the drift of things and this man’s proximity created a semblance of affection.
Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.
At an indefinite height overhead something made the black sky blacker, which had the semblance of a vast architrave uniting the pillars horizontally.