semblancesem‧blance /ˈsembləns/ noun 
She was trying to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order. After the war, life returned to a semblance of normality.
WORD ORIGINsemblance
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French sembler ‘to be like, seem’EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- And so it went on: a series of intrinsically meaningless turns that gained a semblance of significance through weekly repetition.
- How the giant machine swayed and staggered - until Juron gained a semblance of proper rhythm.
- Indeed for most of the first half Iron struggled to find any semblance of the form they later displayed after the interval.
- Old Chao puckered his face into a semblance of pain.
- Our people are denied even the semblance of political power, electing careerist politicians who allegedly represent our interests.
- The Celtics put it into overdrive in the third, effectively ending any semblance or thought of competition for the night.
- The Primarch's dead limbs were momentarily restored, all be it clad in a semblance of translucent rotting tissue.
- There will be just enough time for some semblance of the democratic process within the party to operate.
Longman Language Activatorthe way something seems
if someone or something has the appearance of being a particular kind of person or thing, they seem to be like that, but in fact they may not be: give the appearance of (=seem like): · Karen gives the appearance of being confident, but she isn't really.· The wall was painted with little squares to give the appearance of mosaic.appearances can be deceptive (=what seems to be true may not be true): · This mushroom looks harmless enough, but appearances can be deceptive and it is in fact very poisonous.
your impression of someone or something is the way they seem to you: impression of: · What's your impression of Frank as a boss?get the impression (that) (=think something is a fact because it seems true): · We got the impression that Sally wasn't very pleased to see us.· For some reason she got the impression that you didn't like her.give the impression (that) (=make people believe something, by making it seem to be true): · In her book, she gives the impression that she was a close friend of the Prince, but in fact she only met him twice.a good/a bad/the wrong impression: · In an interview don't say anything negative about your current employer - it gives a bad impression.· If she joked with him, he would think she was flirting, and she didn't want him to get the wrong impression. first impression (=how someone or something seems to you the first time you see them): · My first impression of England was of a grey and rainy place.
: semblance of truth/normality/stability etc when something seems to be true, normal etc - use this especially in negative sentences when something seems only very slightly true, normal etc, or to say that it does not seem this at all: · Any semblance of democracy quickly disappeared when the military government announced it was taking over.· A novel needs to have some semblance of truth, or the reader will quickly lose interest in it.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY She was trying to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES We’ll soon get back to some semblance of normality.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB
She was trying to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order. We’ll soon get back to some semblance of normality.· Nobody has yet been discovered who maintains any semblance of normal health without sleeping.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
a/some semblance of something a situation, condition etc that is close to or similar to a particular one, usually a good one: - Life went back to a semblance of normalcy.
- And so it went on: a series of intrinsically meaningless turns that gained a semblance of significance through weekly repetition.
- Comfortable sofas and armchairs should be grouped to allow a semblance of privacy for each couple or party.
- Huge fans in the basement of Bio2 pushed the air around for some semblance of wind, but it hardly moved pollen.
- Old Chao puckered his face into a semblance of pain.
- Slowly, a semblance of normal life is returning to Topo.
- The ever changing acceleration charges it with energy; a semblance of life that is discussed in Chapter 14.
- The main office gradually returned to a semblance of normality.
- There will be just enough time for some semblance of the democratic process within the party to operate.
She was trying to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order. After the war, life returned to a semblance of normality.