dissemblance

dissemblance

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛmbləns/

Noun

dissemblance (usually uncountable, plural dissemblances)

1. (countable) An act of dissembling.
   • 2009 March 28, Edward Rothstein, “Catching Some Z’s in Days of Yore”, in New York Times‎:

     Such dissemblance, at any rate, is not a temptation at this exhibition.

   Synonyms: concealment, dissimulation, indirectness

2. (uncountable) Dissembling, as a kind of behavior; dissembling, generally.
   • 1980 Dec. 22, Virginia Haradon, "Letters," Time:

     With Mae West, coquettish dissemblance was out; womanly seductiveness was in.

   Synonyms: concealment, dissimulation, indirectness

3. (countable) Dissimilarity, unlikeness.
   • 1849, James Fenimore Cooper, The Sea Lions, ch. 11:

     As this latter animal [the sperm whale] is quite one-third head, he has no very great dissemblance to the alligator in this particular.

   • 1916 Feb. 7, "The Greatest Miracle," Hawera & Normanby Star (New Zealand), p. 2 (retrieved 12 Aug. 2011):

     Moreover, at any season there is a difference between down grass and mountain grass, between sea grass and valley grass, between moor grass and wood grass. It may be slight, and not in kind but only in shadowy dissemblances of texture and hue.

   Synonyms: difference, distinction

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.sɑ̃.blɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

dissemblance f (plural dissemblances)

1. dissemblance

Further reading

• “dissemblance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.