When would verisimilar be preferred over similar in normal usage? Can you offer an example?

Answer 1

Verisimilar is not, as instinct would suggest, an amalgam of very and similar. Similar is a comparison word, and very would be an amplifier, The veri in verisimilar comes from the Latin word verritas, meaning truth. Verity, verify, and verisimilitude all have the same root. So verisimilar would be used to describe something or someone that had the "appearance of truth" but not to necessarily to compare them.

An example would be: Todd's miniatures are verisimilar representations of the world around him, very similar to the works of Anne.

In this usage, verisimilar describes Todd's work. That part of the sentence could stand alone, without the final phrase. The final phrase says Todd's work, which truthfully represents the world around him, is very similar to Anne's. So her work is also verisimilar, meaning it truthfully represents the world she sees.

However, verisimilar is not a commonly used word, For example, every use of it in this answer is underlined in red, because Spellcheck doesn't recognize it. I suggest finding a more commonly used word. I hope this helps.