mimetic

[mi-met-ik, mahy-]

adjective

1. characterized by, exhibiting, or of the nature of imitation or mimicry.

   mimetic gestures.

2. mimic or make-believe.

mimetic

/ mɪˈmɛtɪk /

adjective

1. of, resembling, or relating to mimesis or imitation, as in art, etc

2. biology of or exhibiting mimicry

Other Word Forms

• mimetically adverb
• nonmimetic adjective
• nonmimetically adverb
• unmimetic adjective
• unmimetically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of mimetic¹

1625–35; < Greek mīmētikós imitative, equivalent to mīmē- ( mimesis ) + -tikos -tic

Example Sentences

The funky, carousel shape of the building is reminiscent of mimetic, or programmatic, architecture that began cropping up in Los Angeles in the early 20th century.

From Los Angeles Times

Our big, warm climate and our wide-open spaces made possible something that earned its own genre: mimetic architecture, whimsical buildings that look like something else, often the thing that they sell.

From Los Angeles Times

Prince, a professor in Waterloo's Department of Chemical Engineering, utilized these human-tissue mimetic hydrogels to promote the growth of small-scale tumour replicas derived from donated tumour tissue.

From Science Daily

The tune was jaunty, full of the cantering rhythms and mimetic horn calls that fit a song about hunting.

From New York Times

At some level, it really, really means that this spoken system and even sign system that we do needs the mimetic system that we create when we gesture.

From Salon