apish
Americanadjective
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having the qualities, appearance, or ways of an ape.
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slavishly imitative.
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foolishly affected; silly.
adjective
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stupid; foolish
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resembling an ape
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slavishly imitative
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of apish
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.
The shoulders were apish too, and the widely flaring blades of the pelvis were as primitive as Lucy’s—but the bottom of the same pelvis looked like a modern human’s.
From National Geographic • Sep. 10, 2015
According to evolutionary theorists , we probably owe these unsavory blemishes to our having lost our apish pelts too rapidly for our own good.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2011
Pithecanthropus erectus, the Javanese oldster regarded by most authorities as a very apish man, is called an apeman.
From Time Magazine Archive
His theory began to evolve when he noticed a distinction between anthropoid and apish mimicry: children can imitate such actions as shaving and shooting without using razors or guns; but apes cannot, or do not.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whenever possible, therefore, they preferred to journey, after the fashion of their apish ancestors, by way of the high branches and the liana bridges.
From In the Morning of Time by Roberts, Charles George Douglas, Sir
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.
