# semblance

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsɛmblən(t)s/ · frequency rank #25,569

## Definitions
1. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.
2. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.
3. The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.
4. Followed by of: a person or thing that is seen; an apparition, a vision.
5. Followed by of: a person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing; a likeness.
6. Followed by of: a bare or mere appearance of something.
7. 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.
8. In the form make semblance: an act of appearing; an appearance, a manifestation; also, a false appearance, a pretence.
9. The quality or state of being similar; likeness, resemblance, similarity.
10. The chance of something happening; likelihood, probability.

## Etymology
From Middle English semblaunce (“outward appearance, form; appearance without reality; condition or fact of being apparent; symbolic image; facial expression, countenance; conduct, manner; image, likeness; analogy, comparison”), from Anglo-Norman semblaunce and Old French semblance (modern French semblance), from semblant, the present participle of sembler (“to appear; to resemble, seem”), from Late Latin similāre, the present active infinitive of similō, a variant of Latin simulō (“to act or behave as if; to imitate, simulate”), from similis (“like resembling, similar to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; together”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). By surface analysis, semble + -ance (suffix forming nouns denoting conditions or states).

## Common misspellings (15)
`esmblance`, `sebmlance`, `sembalnce`, `sembblance`, `semblacne`, `semblancce`, `semblanec`, `semblannce`, `semblence`, `sembllance`, `semblnace`, `semlbance`, `semmblance`, `smeblance`, `ssemblance`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/semblance