semblance

/ˈsɛmbləns/

Other forms: semblances

Semblance is all about illusion. Cramming all of your dirty clothes into the closet gives the semblance, or false appearance, that you've done your laundry — but the stench might give you away.

Semblance comes from the 14th-century French word for "resemble," and it is a noun for things that look one way on the outside but are very different on the inside. A popular combination is to say that a person or place has the "semblance of order," when, underneath, everything is out of control.

Definitions of semblance

1. noun

   an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading
   “he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity”

   synonyms: color, colour, gloss, veneer

   types:

   color of law, colour of law

   a mere semblance of legal right; something done with the apparent authority of law but actually in contravention of law

   simulacrum

   an insubstantial or vague semblance

   face value

   the apparent worth as opposed to the real worth

   guise, pretence, pretense, pretext

   an artful or simulated semblance

   camouflage, disguise

   an outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something

   verisimilitude

   the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true

   type of:

   appearance, visual aspect

   outward or visible aspect of a person or thing
2. noun

   picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing
   synonyms: likeness

   types:

   Identikit, Identikit picture

   a likeness of a person's face constructed from descriptions given to police; uses a set of transparencies of various facial features that can be combined to build up a picture of the person sought

   portrait, portrayal

   any likeness of a person, in any medium

   half-length

   a portrait showing the body from only the waist up

   self-portrait

   a portrait of yourself created by yourself

   type of:

   icon, ikon, image, picture

   a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
3. noun

   an erroneous mental representation
   synonyms: illusion

   types:

   apparition, fantasm, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, shadow

   something existing in perception only

   irradiation

   the apparent enlargement of a bright object when viewed against a dark background

   phantom limb

   the illusion that a limb still exists after it has been amputated

   UFO, flying saucer, unidentified flying object

   an (apparently) flying object whose nature is unknown; especially those considered to have extraterrestrial origins

   Flying Dutchman

   a phantom ship that is said to appear in storms near the Cape of Good Hope

   ghost, shade, specter, spectre, spook, wraith

   a mental representation of some haunting experience

   type of:

   appearance

   a mental representation