adjective
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imitating or tending to imitate or copy
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characterized by imitation
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copying or reproducing the features of an original, esp in an inferior manner
imitative painting
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another word for onomatopoeic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of imitative
From the Late Latin word imitātīvus, dating back to 1575–85. See imitate, -ive
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.
That was great advice because it was a book that I’d written very much out of imitative aspiration, imitating Joyce and Hemingway.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026
“I didn’t want to do a movie that was imitative of something else.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2025
The research also details potential breakthroughs in specific areas, including pump-jet propulsion and internal quieting devices, based on "imitative innovation" of Russian technology.
From Reuters • Oct. 9, 2023
If so, getting your avatar dressed in the morning may feel less like playing paper dolls, and more like a unique form of value-signaling and experimentation; may seem additive, rather than just imitative.
From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022
I knew it must have been a trick she had taught him, or imitative rodent behavior.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
