-ance, -ancy

(Latin: often through French, quality or state of; being; condition; act or fact of _______ ing; a suffix that forms nouns)

repentance
repugnance (s) (noun), repugnances (pl)
1. A very strong feeling of dislike or disgust about something or someone; revulsion: They felt nothing but repugnance for the terror group's violent history.
2. An extreme aversion to something or someone; loathing: Lynn has a total repugnance, disgust, and abhorrence towards men who mishandle and abuse their wives or other women.
repugnancy (s) (noun), repugnancies (pl)
Opposition; contrariety; especially, a strong instinctive antagonism, aversion, and reluctance about someone or something: The repugnancy of the odor of that squid definitely keeps Mark from wanting to eat it!
resemblance (s) (noun), resemblances (pl)
The extent to which someone, or something, looks like another person or something else.
resistance (s) (noun), resistances (pl)
1. A refusal to accept something: Little Susi put up a lot of resistance when told she should put on her pyjamas and go to bed!
2. Opposition offered by one force to another: The aggressive mob presented no resistance to the police officers when asked to disperse.
3. Immunity of a person's body toward diseases and germs: Somehow Tom showed good resistance in getting the flu like everybody else in his family.
4. The force that decelerates a moving vehicle or object: Most cars are made to lessen wind resistance by being very smooth and without any sharp hinderances.
5. The absence of responsiveness to an insecticide, drug, etc.: Some plants and insects have shown resistance to certain chemicals caused by continued exposure or genetic variation or mutation.
resonance
1. A phenomenon which occurs when two objects naturally vibrate at the same frequency.

An example can be demonstrated when two tuning forks that are tuned to the same frequency are held close to each other and one is struck, then the other one will begin to vibrate.

Acoustic resonances exist in the human body, in which the structures of the head and throat give the voice its tone.

2. A quality which makes something personally meaningful or important to other people: "The story that the speaker presented had a great deal of resonance with the audience."
romance
Someone who romances or who has a romantic spirit, sentiment, emotion, or desire.
seance, séance (SAY ahns) (s) (noun); seances, séances (pl)
1. A meeting at which a spiritualist attempts to receive communications from the spirits of the dead: Bryan's neighbor was known to be a person who could get in touch with those who have died and relate messages to their living relatives. Seances, or gatherings in order to get in touch with relatives who passed away, were sometimes held at Bryan's neighbor's house.
2. A session, meeting, or sitting, as of a learned or legislative body: The last seance of the state legislature left many members still dissatisfied with the results of the presentations and the voting that took place later.

Historical background

The origin of the term séance comes from French séance, “seat, session”, from Old French seoir, “to sit”.

In French, as in English, séance came to be used specifically for a meeting of people to receive spiritualistic messages (a sense first recorded in English in 1845), but earlier in French and English, the word was used more generally for meetings.

—Compiled from information located in
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
4th Edition; Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston; 2006, page 1570.
A group that is receiving communications from spirits.
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A meeting, session, or sitting to receive messages from spirits.
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semblance (s) (noun), semblances (pl)
severance (s) (noun), severances (pl)
significance
1. The quality of having importance or of being regarded as having great meaning: "The significance of the large number of customers shouldn't be ignored."
2. The meaning of something; usually, a special meaning or a meaning that is not obvious: "The special medical study indicated the significance of sanitizing the hands of hospital personnel when they go from one patient's room to another one."
somnambulance (s) (noun), somnambulances (pl)
Sleep-walking or a condition in which a person is walking while asleep or in a hypnotic trance.
substance (s) (noun), substances, (pl)
1. A particular kind of matter that consists of uniform properties: The plumber used a pipe that was coated with an oily substance.
2. The physical matter of which something is made: The food that anyone eats is a substance which is tangible or can be touched.
3. Wealth, possessions, and property: Wolfgang has become a man of substance since he started his computer business.
Something that is solid or real; material possessions or wealth.
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In addition to the following locations, this word entry has a link to this index: Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words (page 36)
sufferance (s) (noun), sufferances (pl)
A process of doing something even when it is allowed to be done by anyone who really doesn't want it to happen: When Jim was permitted by his parents to play his loud music late at night on sufferance, his parents often could not tolerate it for very long; so, before very long, they made him stop and get ready for bed.
Tolerance of something that is not liked or wanted.
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The strength or ability to endure and to consent to something that is difficult to live with.
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superabundance (s) (noun), superabundances (pl)
A quantity that is more than what is considered to be appropriate; abundant to excess.