facsimile
Americannoun
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facsimiles
plural
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an exact copy, as of a book, painting, or manuscript.
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Also called fax. Telecommunications.
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a method or device for transmitting documents, drawings, photographs, or the like, by means of radio or telephone for exact reproduction elsewhere.
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an image transmitted by such a method.
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verb (used with object)
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facsimiles,
present (3rd person singular)
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facsimiled,
past participle, past
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facsimileing
present participle
adjective
noun
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an exact copy or reproduction
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( as modifier )
a facsimile publication
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an image produced by facsimile transmission
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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facsimilesimple
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facsimilessimple
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have facsimiledperfect
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has facsimiledperfect
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am facsimileingprogressive
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are facsimileingprogressive
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is facsimileingprogressive
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have been facsimileingperfect progressive
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has been facsimileingperfect progressive
Past
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facsimiledsimple
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had facsimiledperfect
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was facsimileingprogressive
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were facsimileingprogressive
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had been facsimileingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of facsimile
1655–65; earlier fac simile make the like, equivalent to Latin fac (imperative of facere ) + simile, noun use of neuter of similis like; see simile
Explanation
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of something. Many parents hope their children will be facsimiles of themselves; many children have other plans in mind. Facsimile comes from two Latin roots: facere, meaning "to make," and simile, meaning "like." Fax machines are so called because they copy and transmit facsimiles of documents, or faxes for short, over phone lines. Grammatically speaking, photocopiers also make facsimiles, but oddly enough those are referred to as copies — not faxes.
Vocabulary lists containing facsimile
Make Do: Fac
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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This Week in Words: February 19 - 23, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Instead, it delivered a watered-down facsimile of those sounds, that critics called "unremarkable", "obtuse" and "lacking in depth".
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
But would the holographic pixels of an A.I.-generated facsimile capture the tiny crevices between my brother’s crooked teeth?
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026
We are more digitally connected than ever, yet much of that connection functions as a kind of stand-in — a convincing facsimile that still leaves us hungry.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2026
The cream-colored pages of this faithful facsimile lend a welcome softness to his monochrome photographs; and the same Egyptian-inspired Art Deco typeface that adorned the book’s original cover is here reproduced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Notably, Brenner and Jacob later discovered the messenger RNA was a facsimile of the DNA chain—a copy made from the original.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Actual celebrities who have begun trademarking their names and catchphrases do so because their careers are likely to be impacted by AI facsimiles of them.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
But after two dry-runs with facsimiles, the culture ministry in Paris is confident the technical difficulties have been overcome.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
The 1876 centennial also became a great commercial anniversary, with facsimiles and other cheap reproductions widely circulated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
The venue forbids phones, so it was a joy to see a crowd focused on the stage without hundreds of little screens recording poor facsimiles of the live event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024
The prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original.
From Engraving for Illustration Historical and Practical Notes by Joseph Kirkbride
It’s not difficult to imagine why some Fijians, earning minimum wages of less than $2 an hour, hold wealthy foreign investors in contempt — a phenomenon facsimiled in other developing nations in the Pacific.
From Time ● Aug. 28, 2013
Girdelstone and Monteagle, meanwhile, were to set about having the Aulus Gellius printed and facsimiled; for I thought it was a pity such a work should be lost to the world.
From Masques & Phases by Robert Ross
Mr. Rye has shown that the specimen of handwriting facsimiled by Dr. Grosart in his edition of Henry Vaughan's Works cannot possibly be the poet's.
From Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II by E. K. (Edmund Kerchever) Chambers
Fielding's own benefit, as appears from the curious ticket attributed to Hogarth and facsimiled by A. M. Ireland, took place on April 25, but we have no record of the amount of his gains.
From Fielding by Austin Dobson
GRAY’S ELEGY: with Sixteen beautiful Illustrations by Norman Prescott Davies, facsimiled from his original drawings in the possession, and published by the gracious permission of H. R. H. The Princess of Wales.
From Tales from the Lands of Nuts and Grapes Spanish and Portuguese Folklore by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
