mimesis
Americannoun
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Rhetoric. imitation or reproduction of the supposed words of someone else, as in order to represent their character.
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(in literature, film, art, etc.)
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imitation of the real world, as by re-creating instances of human action and events or portraying objects found in nature.
This movie is a mimesis of historical events.
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the showing of a story, as by dialogue and enactment of events.
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Biology. imitation.
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Zoology. mimicry.
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Pathology. Also
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the simulation, due to hysteria, of the symptoms of a disease.
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the simulation of the symptoms of one disease by another.
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noun
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art literature the imitative representation of nature or human behaviour
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any disease that shows symptoms of another disease
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a condition in a hysterical patient that mimics an organic disease
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biology another name for mimicry
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rhetoric representation of another person's alleged words in a speech
Etymology
Origin of mimesis
First recorded in 1540–50; from Greek mī́mēsis “imitation,” equivalent to mīmē- (variant stem of mīmeîsthai “to copy”) + -sis noun suffix ( -sis )
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.
I still wonder if this is a kind of clever mimesis.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2018
In victory a kind of mimesis has begun.
From The Guardian • Sep. 19, 2018
In the same essay, Chaudhuri claimed it was time for the “postmodernist Indian English novel” to reject “a mimesis of form, where the largeness of the book allegorizes the largeness of the country it represents.”
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2016
Their imitation of those desires, which he termed mimesis, is imitated by others in turn, leading to escalating and often destructive competition.
From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2015
Now go and practice your mimesis in order to receive a welcome from the Anthophora or the Chalicodoma!
From The Mason-Bees by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander
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.
