Other forms: resembles, resembling, resembled
To resemble is to look or seem like something else. Closely resembles, bears no resemblance, they resemble each other.
It takes a direct object with no preposition — he resembles his father, not resembles to — which is one of the most common small errors learners make. Closely, strongly and vaguely are the usual adverbs. Note the noun resemblance, as in a family resemblance and bears no resemblance; and that resemble describes appearance rather than behaviour, for which take after is the usual phrase.
1verbresembleTo look or seem like something else.
“The twins resemble each other so closely that even their teacher mixes them up.”
resemble is a likeness.
Also accepted in games: take after
Anglo-Norman resembler is re- plus sembler, to seem, from Latin similis, alike. Similar, assemble and simulate all come from the same likeness.
Proto-Indo-European
*sem-
Anglo-Norman
resembler
Middle English
resemblen
English, today
resemble
Built from
From Middle English resemblen, from Anglo-Norman resembler, ressembler, from re- + sembler (“to seem”). by surface analysis, re- + semble.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA