Resemble Meaning
/ɹɪˈzɛmbəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo be like or similar to (something); to represent as similar.
verbTo compare; to regard as similar, to liken.
Sentence Examples
Much as we resemble one another, none of us are exactly alike.
Of course they resemble each other in some ways.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new building will ____ the old one in design but be made of stronger materials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new building was designed to ____ the original Victorian structure that had stood on the site.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English resemblen, from Anglo-Norman resembler, ressembler, from re- + sembler (“to seem”). By surface analysis, re- + semble.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"We will resemble you in that."
— c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
"He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"But what you've just described does resemble a person of that kind."
— 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 230b:
"And th'other all yclad in garments light, / Discolour'd like to womanish disguise, / He did resemble to his Ladie bright [...]."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"They can so well resemble mans speech."
— 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The new building will ____ the old one in design but be made of stronger materials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new building was designed to ____ the original Victorian structure that had stood on the site.