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lifelike

lifelike

22 3.9
That looks and moves like a real person or animal
  • adjective
  • /ˈlaɪfˌlaɪk/
translation icon : realista
  • The artist created a lifelike sculpture that looked like a real person.
  • lifelike statues
  • lifelike character
  • lifelike image

Or then you start to move to much more lifelike form.

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Examples

  • Such lovely shades and so lifelike.

  • Your nerve impulses get picked up by sensors that control six different sets of gears and motors inside the hand, so the movements are incredibly lifelike and precise.

  • There is, as you will see, no doubt that this foundation has an incredibly lifelike feel to it.

  • The clothes and the furniture are so lifelike they look natural.

    Academic text (2014)
  • You know, we can build extraordinary lifelike bodies, but we cannot build the brains to match.

  • The hypothesis needs to be tested in a lifelike situation involving the two teachers.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Mark Twain's works are a treasury of lifelike character descriptions.

    Academic text (1998)
  • I've seen birds stuffed and mounted so lifelike... you'd swear you saw them breathing.

  • Some trees on our block have been painstakingly affixed with lifelike-looking leaves in fall colors, like brown and orange.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The bellman's body was off-white plastic with inlaid brass buttons; his hands were lifelike in white gloves.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

realistic
vslifelike
65 4.1

Showing things as they are in real life

is about close real appearance but not necessarily extreme or photographic
naturalistic
vslifelike
12 6.0

Showing people and things as they are in real life

covers realism generally but focuses on natural settings rather than any subject
true to life
vslifelike
3 4.1

Very similar to real life in looks and detail

is similar but may be broader or less detailed in appearance
photorealistic
vslifelike
1 7.0

An image that looks almost exactly like a real photograph

is highly similar to life but not necessarily photographic in quality
living
vslifelike
3.5

So realistic it seems alive

is realistic in general appearance without implying actual life

Antonyms

267 3.6

Made by people rather than by nature, often as a copy of something natural

96 4.0

Not having a sensible idea of what can be done in real life

How Realistic

lifelike
22 3.9
stylized
11 5.9

Surface Forms

lifelike positive

Morphology

lifelike = life (transparent) = life + like

Formed by the noun 'life' plus the productive adjectival suffix '-like' meaning 'similar to', so the meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

The word lifelike is made of life and like, which together mean 'similar to life'. So something described as lifelike looks very real or natural.