similitude

From Old French

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɪˈmɪlɪtuːd/

similitude (countable and uncountable, plural similitudes)

1. (uncountable) Similarity or resemblance to something else.
   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN

     Renaissance man thought in terms of similitudes: the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.

2. (countable) A way in which two people or things share similitude.
   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN

     Renaissance man thought in terms of 'similitudes': the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.

3. (countable) Someone or something that closely resembles another; a duplicate or twin.
   • Wilkie Collins, Nine O'Clock!

     If I was certain of anything in the world, I was certain that I had seen my brother in the study — nay, more, had touched him, — and equally certain that I had seen his double — his exact similitude, in the garden.

4. A parable or allegory.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XIII:

     And he spake many thynges to them in similitudes, sayinge: Beholde, the sower wentt forth to sowe, And as he sowed, some fell by the wayes side [...].

• antisimilitude

From Latin similitūdinem, accusative singular of similitūdō (“likeness, similitude”); from similis.

similitude f (plural similitudes)

1. similitude

• “similitude” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).