mimetic

American  

[mi-met-ik, mahy-] / mɪˈmɛt ɪk, maɪ- /

adjective

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

   mimetic gestures.

2. mimic or make-believe.

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mimetic British  

/ mɪˈmɛtɪk /

adjective

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

2. biology of or exhibiting mimicry

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of mimetic

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

Example Sentences

I envision social media accounts crammed with athletes’ selfies in front of Randy’s Doughnuts in Inglewood, an example of mimetic architecture — where the buildings look like the things they sell.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2024

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 • Feb. 12, 2024

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 • Jul. 8, 2023

But Magritte suggests that art is always mimetic, if not of the external world then at the very least of consciousness.

From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2022

All these consequences of radiation have been duplicated in laboratory studies by a large group of chemicals known as radio- mimetic or radiation-imitating.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson