si·mil·i·tude

(sĭ-mĭl′ĭ-to͞od′, -tyo͞od′)

1. Similarity; resemblance: "Not every case of similitude in nature is proof of a close bloodline" (Natalie Angier).

2. Archaic One that closely resembles another.

3. Archaic A simile, allegory, or parable.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin similitūdō, from similis, like; see similar.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

similitude

(sɪˈmɪlɪˌtjuːd)

1. likeness; similarity

2. a thing or sometimes a person that is like or the counterpart of another

3. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) archaic a simile, allegory, or parable

[C14: from Latin similitūdō, from similis like]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

si•mil•i•tude

(sɪˈmɪl ɪˌtud, -ˌtyud)

n.

1. likeness; resemblance.

2. a person or thing that is like or the counterpart of another.

3. semblance; image.

4. a likening or comparison; a simile, parable, or allegory.

[1325–75; Middle English < Latin similitūdō likeness, derivative of similis similar]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	similitude - similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things; "man created God in his own likeness" alikeness, likeness similarity - the quality of being similar comparability, compare, comparison, equivalence - qualities that are comparable; "no comparison between the two books"; "beyond compare" mirror image, reflection, reflexion - a likeness in which left and right are reversed naturalness - the likeness of a representation to the thing represented; "engineers strove to increase the naturalness of recorded music" resemblance - similarity in appearance or external or superficial details spitting image - a perfect likeness or counterpart dissimilitude, unlikeness - dissimilarity evidenced by an absence of likeness
	2.	similitude - a duplicate copy counterpart, twin duplication, duplicate - a copy that corresponds to an original exactly; "he made a duplicate for the files"

similitude

noun

The quality or state of being alike:

affinity, alikeness, analogy, comparison, correspondence, likeness, parallelism, resemblance, similarity, uniformity, uniformness.

Translations

somiglianza

similitude

[sɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd] N → similitud f, semejanza f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

similitude

n (liter) → Ähnlichkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Superstition, without a veil, is a deformed thing; for, as it addeth deformity to an ape, to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion, makes it the more deformed.

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The points of similitude consist in the rivalship of power, applicable to both, and in the CONCENTRATION of large portions of the strength of the community into particular DEPOSITORIES, in one case at the disposal of individuals, in the other case at the disposal of political bodies.

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In all these, however, and in every other similitude of life to the theatre, the resemblance hath been always taken from the stage only.

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Though all comparison in the way of general bulk between the whale and the elephant is preposterous, inasmuch as in that particular the elephant stands in much the same respect to the whale that a dog does to the elephant; nevertheless, there are not wanting some points of curious similitude; among these is the spout.

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The mother herself -- as if the red ignominy were so deeply scorched into her brain that all her conceptions assumed its form -- had carefully wrought out the similitude, lavishing many hours of morbid ingenuity to create an analogy between the object of her affection and the emblem of her guilt and torture.

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"That is true," said Don Quixote, "for it would not be right that the accessories of the drama should be real, instead of being mere fictions and semblances, like the drama itself; towards which, Sancho- and, as a necessary consequence, towards those who represent and produce it- I would that thou wert favourably disposed, for they are all instruments of great good to the State, placing before us at every step a mirror in which we may see vividly displayed what goes on in human life; nor is there any similitude that shows us more faithfully what we are and ought to be than the play and the players.

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No regular beauty pleases egotistical human beings so much as a softened and refined likeness of themselves; for this reason, fathers regard with complacency the lineaments of their daughters' faces, where frequently their own similitude is found flatteringly associated with softness of hue and delicacy of outline.

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And pray continue to utter them; at any rate let us hear if there is anything more to be said about the similitude of the sun.

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Thus, the sperm whale and the humpbacked whale, each has a hump; but there the similitude ceases.

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Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of the god of my profession.

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Thee next they sang of all Creation first, Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud Made visible, th' Almighty Father shines, Whom else no Creature can behold; on thee Impresst the effulgence of his Glorie abides, Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.

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Other faces wore the similitude of man or woman, but distorted or extravagant, with red noses pendulous before their mouths, which seemed of awful depth, and stretched from ear to ear in an eternal fit of laughter.

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