Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Similitude

Si-mil′i-tude

,
Noun.
[F.
similitude
, L.
similitudo
, from
similis
similar. See
Similar
.]
1.
The quality or state of being similar or like; resemblance; likeness; similarity;
as,
similitude
of substance
.
Chaucer.
Let us make now man in our image, man
In our
similitude
.
Milton.
If fate some future bard shall join
In sad
similitude
of griefs to mine.
Pope.
2.
The act of likening, or that which likens, one thing to another; fanciful or imaginative comparison; a simile.
Tasso, in his
similitudes
, never departed from the woods; that is, all his comparisons were taken from the country.
Dryden.
3.
That which is like or similar; a representation, semblance, or copy; a facsimile.
Man should wed his
similitude
.
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Similitude

SIMIL'ITUDE

,
Noun.
[L. similitudo.]
1.
Likeness; resemblance; likeness in nature, qualities of appearance; as similitude of substance. Let us make man in our image, man in our similitude. Fate some future bard shall join in sad similitude of griefs to mine.
2.
Comparison; simile. Tasso, in his similitude, never departed from the woods. [See Simile.]

Definition 2024


similitude

similitude

English

Noun

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 1840460865)
      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 1840460865)
      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 [...].

Translations


French

Etymology

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

Noun

similitude f (plural similitudes)

  1. similitude