imitate

[im-i-teyt]

verb (used with object)

imitated, imitating 

1. to follow or endeavor to follow as a model or example.

   to imitate an author's style; to imitate an older brother.

2. to mimic; impersonate.

   The students imitated the teacher behind her back.

   Synonyms: mock, ape

3. to make a copy of; reproduce closely.

4. to have or assume the appearance of; simulate; resemble.

imitate

/ ˈɪmɪˌteɪt /

verb

1. to try to follow the manner, style, character, etc, of or take as a model

   many writers imitated the language of Shakespeare

2. to pretend to be or to impersonate, esp for humour; mimic

3. to make a copy or reproduction of; duplicate; counterfeit

4. to make or be like; resemble or simulate

   her achievements in politics imitated her earlier successes in business

Other Word Forms

• imitator noun
• nonimitating adjective
• overimitate verb (used with object)
• preimitate verb (used with object)
• unimitated adjective
• unimitating adjective
• well-imitated adjective
• imitability noun
• imitable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of imitate¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin imitātus, past participle of imitārī “to copy,” presumably a frequentative akin to the base of imāgō image

Word History and Origins

Origin of imitate¹

C16: from Latin imitārī; see _image

Synonym Study

Imitate, copy, duplicate, reproduce all mean to follow or try to follow an example or pattern. Imitate is the general word for the idea: to imitate someone's handwriting, behavior. To copy is to make a fairly exact imitation of an original creation: to copy a sentence, a dress, a picture. To duplicate is to produce something that exactly resembles or corresponds to something else; both may be originals: to duplicate the terms of two contracts. To reproduce is to make a likeness or reconstruction of an original: to reproduce a 16th-century theater.

Example Sentences

“In Europa, you perform the same concert and the response is much more, how you say, restrained. In England it is”—he imitates a posh English accent—“ ‘That was really lovely, you know.’

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"They started circling and whistling, imitating animals, many different types of birds," Tomas recalls.

Read more on BBC

He once walked the campus after 1 a.m. to imitate a student’s experience and assess safety.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Deep dives into his macabre oeuvre - which is peppered with references to death, remembrance, violence and bloody motifs - have led some to question if life was imitating art and vice versa.

Read more on BBC

This is the sort of anti-bully cosplay I’ve come to see often in recent months: Kids I know strutting around with their chests puffed out like roosters, imitating a neighborhood bully who insults immigrants.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• act like www.thesaurus.com
• ape 
• assume 
• duplicate 
• echo 
• emulate 
• impersonate 
• mimic 
• mirror 
• mock 
• pretend 
• replicate 
• reproduce 
• resemble 
• simulate