gleichsam

German

Etymology

15th century, from gleich +‎ -sam. Earlier attested as a Middle High German noun gelīchsame (“image, double, likeness”) and a verb gelīchsamen (“to compare”); and Old High German gilīhsam (“similar, hypocrite”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaɪ̯çˌzaːm/, /ˈɡlaɪ̯ç.zam/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gleich‧sam

Adverb

gleichsam

1. (formal) as it were; so to speak

   Synonyms: gewissermaßen, quasi, sozusagen

   Ich fühlte mich gleichsam wie neugeboren.

   I felt, as it were, like I was born anew.

   • 1886, Rudolf Steiner, Grundlinien einer Erkenntnistheorie der goetheschen Weltanschauung, page 37:

     Kant also hat die Unwissenschaftlichkeit hier gleichsam wissenschaftlich begründet.

     Here, Kant therefore has scientifically founded the unscientificity, as it were.

2. (rare, nonstandard, proscribed) equally; likewise

   Synonyms: imgleichen, insgleichen, also

References

• “gleichsam” in Duden online
• “gleichsam” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “gleichsam” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon