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

Ms. Greene is, in every sense, a singular politician, mercifully neither imitated nor imitable.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

These variations can imitate the subtle radial velocity signals astronomers look for, sometimes making it difficult to determine whether a planet is truly present.

Read more on Science Daily

The scene she depicts even imitates her real life: Kahlo actually kept a smaller, papier-mâché skeleton atop her own canopy bed in Mexico City as a reassuring symbol of death’s ubiquity.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They imitate a natural hormone released in the digestive tract after eating and signal the brain to reduce hunger.

Read more on Science Daily

She gave the nursery globe a spin, closed her eyes, and imitated Madame Ionesco once more.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

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