An oft-overused construction in writing is look like. As with most phrases, it has its place.

Would the Douglas Adams passage from Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency pack the same punch if we revised it?

“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.”

James Whitcomb Riley’s original version is the one most people quote:

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”

Is anyone brave enough to do what Adams did with the duck adage and suggest an alternative for the following Oscar Wilde quote?

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

A judicious sprinkle of look like throughout a novel works well. However, if you resort to this construction several times within the same chapter, readers notice.

Sometimes you can remove the look like phrase without creating a direct replacement. Consider:

The large barbed-wire fence looked like a twisted tangle of tumbleweed.

The barbed-wire fence loomed large, a twisted tangle of confinement.

The second example presents a vivid image with a strong verb and a slight change from tumbleweed to confinement.

Consider the following sets of sentences. In each pair, the second example uses a word taken from the list below.

Janie’s eye creases made her look like an old elephant.

Janie’s eye creases echoed those of an old elephant.

Do you see an old elephant’s wrinkles? Maybe you envision an elephant mirrored in Janie’s eyes.

In his crouched stance, he looked like a fierce panther.

His crouched stance exuded the ferocity of a panther.

Stealthy ferocity, fit for a panther’s personality, is exemplified with exuded. Oozed would also fit.

With his tailored suit, he looked like a wealthy man.

His tailored suit trumpeted wealth and refinement.

Trumpet fanfare has announced the arrival of important dignitaries for centuries.

Are you convinced? Here’s the list, an assortment of words and phrases that can function as verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

A
a chip off the old block, a mark of, accord with, adopt, affect, agree with, akin to, alike, allude to, analogous, announce, answer the description of, ape, appear, approach, approximate, assume the appearance of

B
bear resemblance to, betray, border on, brim with, bring to mind, bristle with, broadcast

C
characterize, coincide with, come across as, come close to, come near, communicate, comparable with, conform to, connote, consistent with, convey, copy, correlate with, correspond to

D and E
declare, denote, depict, designate, divulge, double, dovetail with, duplicate, echo, emanate, embody, embrace, emit, emulate, epitomize, equal to, equate with, equivalent with, evocative of, evoke, exemplify, expose, exude

F to H
fake, favor, feature, feign, fit, give the impression of, have earmarks of, have signs of, have the hallmarks of, herald, hint at

I
identical to, illustrate, imitate, impersonate, imply, in harmony with, in the same league as, incarnate, indicate, indistinguishable, infer, interchangeable, insinuate, intimate

M to O
manifest, match, mean, mention, mime, mimic, mirror, mock, model, not unlike, notify, offer, on par with, ooze

P
paint, parallel, parody, parrot, pass for, personify, picture, point to, portend, portray, pose, possess, presage, pretend, proclaim, promise, propose

R
radiate, redolent of, refer, reflect, reiterate, relate, relay, release, remind one of, reminiscent of, replicate, represent, resemble, resonate, reveal, reverberate

S
same as, shout, show, signal, signify, similar to, simulate, smack of, sound like, spoof, square with, steer, strike one as, suggest, suggestive of, suit, symbolize, synonymous with

T to W
take after, tally with, teem with, tell, tend, the image of, the picture of, tout, transmit, trumpet, two of a kind, two peas in a pod, typify, uniform, verge on, wear the mask of, wear the trappings of