Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To use or follow as a model.
  • transitive verb To copy the mannerisms or speech of; mimic.
  • transitive verb To copy (mannerisms or speech).
  • transitive verb To copy exactly; reproduce.
  • transitive verb To appear like; resemble.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To use as a model or pattern; make a copy, counterpart, or semblance of.
  • To take example by, in action or manner; follow or endeavor to copy as an exemplar; act in the manner or character of; pattern after.
  • Synonyms Imitate, Counterfeit, Mimic, Ape, Mock. Imitate is the general word for the expression of the idea common to these five words. To counterfeit is to imitate exactly or as closely as possible, more often for a dishonest purpose; to mimic is to imitate in sport or ridicule, as to mimic one's affectations in speech or carriage; to ape is to imitate with servility. Mock, whose first meaning was to imitate in derision, has changed ground so as now generally to mean to deride by imitation, or, still more broadly, to treat with scorn, to tantalize.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To follow as a pattern, model, or example; to copy or strive to copy, in acts, manners etc.
  • transitive verb To produce a semblance or likeness of, in form, character, color, qualities, conduct, manners, and the like; to counterfeit; to copy.
  • transitive verb (Biol.) To resemble (another species of animal, or a plant, or inanimate object) in form, color, ornamentation, or instinctive habits, so as to derive an advantage thereby; sa, when a harmless snake imitates a venomous one in color and manner, or when an odorless insect imitates, in color, one having secretion offensive to birds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of.
  • verb To copy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb appear like, as in behavior or appearance
  • verb make a reproduction or copy of
  • verb reproduce someone's behavior or looks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin imitārī, imitāt-; see aim- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin imitatus, past participle of imitari ("to copy, portray, imitate"), from a deponent frequentive root *im, whence also imago ("a copy, image"), see image.

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Examples

  • When the three deacons who sing the Passion have left, the deacon, subdeacon and acolytes follow the normal rites that precede the Gospel procession; on this day, however, the Mass which they imitate is the Solemn Requiem Mass.

    Compendium of the 1955 Holy Week Revisions of Pius XII: Part 4.1 - Mass of Presanctified, Good Friday, Mass of the Catechumens and the Solemn Prayers 2009

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacán's rural education 2007

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacán's rural education 2007

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacán's rural education 2007

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacán's rural education 2007

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacan's rural education 2003

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacan's rural education 2003

  • It is easy to once again imitate without thinking about the reasoning, especially in the impressionable age of the students.

    Michoacan's rural education 2003

  • All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth.

    NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works 1895

  • "I have a less medical, and more religious, idea: cultivate a liturgical garden and emblematic vegetables; make a kitchen and flower garden that may set forth the glory of God and carry up our prayers in their language; and, in short, imitate the purpose of the Song of the Three Holy Children in the fiery furnace, when they called on all Nature, from the breath of the storm to the seed buried in the field, to Bless the Lord!"

    The Cathedral 1877

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