facsimile

[fak-sim-uh-lee]

noun

1. an exact copy, as of a book, painting, or manuscript.

   Synonyms: duplicate, likeness, replica

2. Also called fax. Telecommunications.

   1. a method or device for transmitting documents, drawings, photographs, or the like, by means of radio or telephone for exact reproduction elsewhere.

   2. an image transmitted by such a method.

3. dropout.

verb (used with object)

facsimiled, facsimileing 

1. to reproduce in facsimile; make a facsimile of.

   Synonyms: duplicate

adjective

1. Telecommunications.,  Also

   1. (of an image) copied by means of facsimile.

      facsimile mail.

   2. (of a method or device) used to produce a facsimile.

      facsimile transmission.

facsimile

/ fækˈsɪmɪlɪ /

noun

1. 1. an exact copy or reproduction

   2. ( as modifier )

      a facsimile publication

2. an image produced by facsimile transmission

verb

1. (tr) to make an exact copy of

Word History and Origins

Origin of facsimile¹

1655–65; earlier fac simile make the like, equivalent to Latin fac (imperative of facere ) + simile, noun use of neuter of similis like; simile

Word History and Origins

Origin of facsimile¹

C17: from Latin fac simile! make something like it!, from facere to make + similis similar, like

Example Sentences

On its surface, the booming market in side bets on subprime mortgage bonds seemed to be the financial equivalent of fantasy football: a benign, if silly, facsimile of investing.

Read more on Literature

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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Now, the Dodgers have a facsimile of a bullpen as they play the Phillies.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Slash, or, rather, a skeletal facsimile of him played by an actor, will be available for photo opportunities and meet and greets at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, which runs most evenings through Nov. 2.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The chief complaint about pet parenting seems to be that it wastes valuable love that could go to a human child on a fuzzy facsimile of one, as though companionship is a zero-sum proposition.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• carbon copy 
• likeness 
• photocopy 
• replica