mock-up
Americannoun
noun
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a working full-scale model of a machine, apparatus, etc, for testing, research, etc
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a layout of printed matter
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mock-up
First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase mock up
Explanation
A mock-up is a smaller model or replica of something that will eventually be built or that's used for teaching. When an engineer designs a new kind of airplane, she'll first make a mock-up. A mock-up can be a prototype, or a first version of something that will be improved upon before the final version is constructed. Another kind of mock-up is a page of a newspaper or magazine that's laid out so it can be rearranged and perfected before the finished publication is printed. Some mock-ups are full size, but made of cheaper materials than the final product will use — a furniture maker might use this method.
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 purported healing is taking place at “Free Spirits Wellness Center,” a mock-up clinic led by Sting dedicated to advance physiological and cognitive expansion for people working under intense pressure.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
As part of renewed efforts to solve this case, police have released mock-up facial images showing how the man may have looked aged in his 50s, 60s and 70s.
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2026
Tenev created a mock-up of what the accounts on his app might look like, and posted on X that the platform was “ready to go.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
In addition to winged Victories like that shown in the mock-up Trump’s arch, the sculptural program of the Arch of Severus includes depictions of four major battles in Parthia and the spoils of war.
From Salon • Nov. 5, 2025
We even got to sit on a full-sized mock-up of a toilet that astronauts used in space.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
