imitate
Americanverb (used with object)
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imitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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imitated,
past participle, past
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imitating
present participle
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to follow or endeavor to follow as a model or example.
to imitate an author's style; to imitate an older brother.
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to mimic; impersonate.
The students imitated the teacher behind her back.
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to make a copy of; reproduce closely.
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to have or assume the appearance of; simulate; resemble.
verb
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to try to follow the manner, style, character, etc, of or take as a model
many writers imitated the language of Shakespeare
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to pretend to be or to impersonate, esp for humour; mimic
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to make a copy or reproduction of; duplicate; counterfeit
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to make or be like; resemble or simulate
her achievements in politics imitated her earlier successes in business
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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imitabilitynoun
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imitatornoun
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overimitateverb (used with object)
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preimitateverb (used with object)
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imitableadjective
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nonimitatingadjective
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unimitatedadjective
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unimitatingadjective
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well-imitatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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imitatesimple
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imitatessimple
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have imitatedperfect
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has imitatedperfect
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am imitatingprogressive
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are imitatingprogressive
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is imitatingprogressive
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have been imitatingperfect progressive
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has been imitatingperfect progressive
Past
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imitatedsimple
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had imitatedperfect
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was imitatingprogressive
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were imitatingprogressive
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had been imitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of imitate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin imitātus, past participle of imitārī “to copy,” presumably a frequentative akin to the base of imāgō image
Explanation
When you imitate someone, you copy them. Youth marketers capitalize on kids' desire to imitate––tweens imitate teens, teens imitate young adults, and marketers supply the product lines to make it easy. Humans learn by imitating others. Babies carefully watch their caregivers' lips, learning to imitate the movements they make to create language sounds. Writers often begin their careers imitating the style of older writers they admire.
Vocabulary lists containing imitate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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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:
Unitree’s humanoid robots can walk, run and climb and “can imitate & reinforce the learning drive” said the company, referring to algorithms that train the robot’s artificial intelligence as it undertakes tasks.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Even with Kennedy looming over the counter more than sous-cheffing beside it, “The Real Food Show” briefly becomes the cooking program it has been dressed to imitate.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Scientists at the University of Nottingham's School of Pharmacy and Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering created the material to imitate the biological processes that form enamel naturally.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
Am I supposed to watch myself and imitate myself?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Gentlemen!” boomed the voice Scipio loved to imitate because it sounded so much more impressive than his own.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
We’ll all find out together if, with the original stock market superstition, life actually imitates art.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
Instead of copying part of a virus or bacterium, this new vaccine imitates the communication signals immune cells exchange during infection.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
In the best light, the new strategy imitates Theodore Roosevelt’s effort to take advantage of America’s rising influence and mediate balances of power in East Asia and Europe while dominating North America and the Caribbean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
The company further alleges that Trader Joe’s version imitates the packaging and colors on the boxes of Uncrustables.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
For example, a leader begins by miming actions such as teeth brushing, bouncing a ball, or eating food from a bowl, and the group imitates them.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Life imitated art for Cyrus, who became a global pop star off the back of the show's success.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Often imitated, never duplicated, a ring from Spinelli Kilcollin is both classic and subversive enough to be interesting for decades to come.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
Perhaps it is because he treated the Shingle Style not as a historic revival, whose forms he faithfully imitated, but as a living language.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
Others quickly imitated the language in that post to claim that brands including Oatly oat milk, Southwest Airlines, Tesla, Louis Vuitton, Domino’s Pizza, Toyota, E.l.f.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
And I thought how some of them imitated the master.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
"Triple threat. Go big or go home. Life imitating art."
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
According to the study, this is the first documented case of a spider imitating a parasitic fungus that infects other spiders.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
The song would only become even more synonymous with the president in 2022, when his hokey dance often done to the classic became so viral that athletes around the world began imitating it.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
He suggested imitating Europe’s generous wage replacement programs and job protections.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Of course, it was Mrs. Clarke they were imitating, for how would the children know anything about bullfights and matadors?
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
