imitation

American  

[im-i-tey-shuhn] / ˌɪm ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

1. a result or product of imitating.

2. the act of imitating.

3. a counterfeit; copy.

4. a literary composition that imitates the manner or subject of another author or work.

5. Biology.  mimicry.

6. Psychology.  the performance of an act whose stimulus is the observation of the act performed by another person.

7. Sociology.  the copying of patterns of activity and thought of other groups or individuals.

8. Art.

   1. (in Aristotelian aesthetics) the representation of an object or an action as it ought to be.

   2. the representation of actuality in art or literature.

9. Music.  the repetition of a melodic phrase at a different pitch or key from the original or in a different voice part.

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adjective

1. designed to imitate a genuine or superior article or thing.

   imitation leather.

2. Jewelry.  noting an artificial gem no part of which is of the true gemstone.

imitation British  

/ ˌɪmɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. the act, practice, or art of imitating; mimicry

2. an instance or product of imitating, such as a copy of the manner of a person; impression

3. 1. a copy or reproduction of a genuine article; counterfeit

   2. ( as modifier )

      imitation jewellery

4. (in contrapuntal or polyphonic music) the repetition of a phrase or figure in one part after its appearance in another, as in a fugue

5. a literary composition that adapts the style of an older work to the writer's own purposes

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Other Word Forms

• imitational adjective
• nonimitational adjective
• overimitation noun
• preimitation noun
• self-imitation noun

Etymology

Origin of imitation

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin imitātiōn- (stem of imitātiō ). See imitate, -ion

Example Sentences

It shifted from the good-quality excess products of local brands — which were then sold at bargain prices — to imitation or cheap goods often imported from abroad.

From Los Angeles Times

In one of my friend’s first apartments after college she had an imitation Noguchi coffee table we called the Fauxguchi.

From Barron's

Writing in The New York Times in 1963, the architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable called it a “superbly executed vacuum,” which fostered “an unforgivable fuzziness between the values of the real and the imitation.”

From New York Times

The Lord give you hope and happiness, that you may inspire all your people in the imitation of his unchanging love.

From BBC

They were clothed in imitation robes and regalia: waxwork monarchs in paste jewels, masters of all they surveyed.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• clone
• impersonation
• impression
• mimicry
• parody
• reflection
• replica
• reproduction