[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/likeness/) [dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [L](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/l/) / likeness # likeness noun (a likeness, likenesses) «likeness» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition and Early Modern English — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova. ## Everyday 1. Being alike or similar; how much one thing looks like another. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#m1) 2. A picture, drawing or statue that looks like a real person. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#m2) ### In the lessons In families: "There's a strong likeness between you and your mum." In art lessons: a portrait that is a good likeness looks like the person. Phrases: a strong likeness, a family likeness, a good likeness. ### Examples - There is a strong likeness between the twins. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x1) - The painting is a good likeness of the queen. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x2) - I can see the family likeness in your smile. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x3) - The sculptor made a likeness of the famous runner. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x4) - The police drew a likeness of the thief. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x5) - Is the drawing a good likeness? Not really! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x6) - It is not the same Pivi—but there is a kind of likeness. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/#x7) ### Note Countable. From "like" + "-ness". Similar: resemblance, similarity. Do not confuse with "liking" (enjoying something). ## In Jewish tradition In Genesis, man is made in God's "likeness", and in Deuteronomy the likeness of any creature must not be made as an idol. **Interpretation.** Tradition reads "in the likeness of God" as meaning each person has a special worth, with a mind and a conscience, and not that God has a body. The ban on making likenesses guards against worshiping images. ### Examples - In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; (Torah GEN.5.1, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x1) - the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven, (Torah DEU.4.17, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x2) - lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (Torah DEU.4.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x3) - Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? (Prophets ISA.40.18, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x4) - And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. (Prophets EZK.1.5, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x5) - And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. (Prophets EZK.1.5, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/#x6) ### Note Countable. From "like" + "-ness". Similar: resemblance, similarity. Do not confuse with "liking" (enjoying something). ## Early Modern English ### Meaning Being like something, or a picture or image of someone. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/L/likeness/#m1) ### Then and now Today a likeness is a resemblance or a portrait. In the first sentence "likeness" means the form or image in which God made man, which is an old sense. ### Examples - In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; (Torah GEN.5.1, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/L/likeness/#x1) - That was my idea, and there stands his likeness." (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/L/likeness/#x2) - The Twenty-fourth Path is the Imaginative Intelligence, and it is so called because it gives a likeness to all the similitudes, which are created in like manner similar to its harmonious elegancies. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/L/likeness/#x3) ### Note Today: resemblance; image. ## On Mova - [Trees and pragmatics of «likeness» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/likeness/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«likeness» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/likeness.html) on Mova free. - [Trees and pragmatics of «likeness» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/likeness/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«likeness» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/likeness.html) on Mova free. - [Trees and pragmatics of «likeness» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/L/likeness/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«likeness» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/likeness.html) on Mova free.