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:
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
Fax machines - formally known as facsimile machines - used to be a familiar fixture in offices as well as schools, hospitals and police stations across the country.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
Recently I received the gift of “Louis I. Kahn: The Last Notebook,” a facsimile edition of the great architect’s final sketches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
This is a facsimile of life, for broken people.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
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
Near both the Peace Prize medal and the handprint are kid-friendly facsimiles that visitors can touch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 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 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
About the end of the century the book was reprinted at Schiedam with the same cuts, from which facsimiles were made in 1898 by Dr. Lippmann and published by the Bibliographical Society.
From Fine Books by Alfred W. (Alfred William) Pollard
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
If a page is torn, it can be repaired, or if a piece of it is missing, it can be facsimiled, and the whole of the inside of the volume can be washed throughout.
From The Private Library What We Do Know, What We Don't Know, What We Ought to Know About Our Books by Arthur Lee Humphreys
Blake, 1804, facsimiled at Edmonton, anno 1886, By Wm.
From A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700 (Vol 1 of 3) Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe by Various
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
This was hardly what John wanted; but, not to be beaten, he facsimiled the P. 35master's freehand in a sort of engraver's stipple, which his habitual neatness helped him to do in perfection.
From The Life of John Ruskin by W. G. (William Gershom) Collingwood
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.
