Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A form of ancient Greek and Roman theatrical entertainment in which familiar characters and situations were farcically portrayed on stage, often with coarse dialogue and ludicrous actions.
- n. A performance of or dialogue for such an entertainment.
- n. A performer in a mime.
- n. A modern performer who specializes in comic mimicry.
- n. The art of portraying characters and acting out situations or a narrative by gestures and body movement without the use of words; pantomime.
- n. A performance of pantomime.
- n. An actor or actress skilled in pantomime.
- v. To ridicule by imitation; mimic.
- v. To act out with gestures and body movement.
- v. To act as a mimic.
- v. To portray characters and situations by gesture and body movement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An imitator; one skilled in mimicry; a mimic; specifically, a mimic actor; a performer in the ancient farces or burlesques called mimes.
- n. A dramatic entertainment among the ancient Greeks of Sicily and southern Italy and the Romans, consisting generally of farcical mimicry of real events and persons. The Greek mimes combined spoken dialogue of somewhat simple and familiar character with action; the Roman consisted chiefly of action, often of a coarse and even indecent character, with little speaking. See
pantomime . - To mimic, or play the buffoon; act in a mime.
Wiktionary
- n. A form of acting without words; pantomime
- n. A pantomime actor
- n. A classical theatrical entertainment in the form of farce
- n. A performer of such a farce
- n. A person who mimics others in a comical manner
- v. To mimic.
- v. To act without words.
- v. To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use sound.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A kind of drama in which real persons and events were generally represented in a ridiculous manner; an ancient Greek or Roman form of farce.
- n. An actor in such representations.
- n. The art of representing actions, events, situations, or stories solely by gestures and body movements, without speaking; pantomime{3}.
- n. An actor who performs or specializes in mime{3}; an actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression; a pantomime{2}; a pantomimist; a mimer.
- n. A mimic.
- v. obsolete To mimic.
WordNet 3.0
- v. act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements only
- n. a performance using gestures and body movements without words
- v. imitate (a person or manner), especially for satirical effect
- n. an actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression
Etymologies
- Via Latin mimus, from Ancient Greek μῖμος (mimos, "imitator, actor"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin mīmus, from Greek mīmos. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I support any mime related violence so long as the mime is being injured.”
“Hoodathunk (sponsored by the Church of Holy Beer) says: actually, I meant to say ‘A mime is a terrible thing to face’.”
“For a while, Crazy Eddie sponsored the movies and one year, the announcer did a commercial in mime, wearing a Godzilla mask and claws.”
“In addition to his acting career, Jean is a professional choreographer and dancer, with special interests in mime, movement, comedia del arte, and ballet.”
Performance Program, Boston University, Obi, Romantic Circles Praxis Series
“I raised the subject of air-cricket – cricket you play in mime form, often using a bat-like object, and perhaps making a "clonk" noise as you dispatch an imaginary ball – on the Guardian's over-by-over commentary recently and was swamped with stories: the man who performed a lofted drive with his rolled degree certificate at his graduation and sent it sailing into the audience; the Russian wedding almost ruined by a display of aggressive umbrella air-batsmanship; the hospital-ward practice of playing air-cricket with a drip stand.”
The Guardian: Why a Sachin Tendulkar is my signature air-cricket shot
“I can’t wait for the day the Pals start showing up at the Knesset in mime gear. anon says:”
“A mime is a terrible thing to waste, both in its theoretical and theatrical forms.”
“The priest reads the story as the participants act the proceedings out in mime.”
“The mime was a farce of popular morals, particularly of the lower classes; it was a portrayal of the dregs of society in their comic aspects.”
“True to form, the required response from a WNEP DADA, if referred to as a mime or clown is to bark back "We are not MIMES!" with disgust at the suggestion and Cynthia (as DADA Cringe) went absolutely apoplectic in her insistence.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mime’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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What follows
follow up, track, pursue, tail, keep abreast, chase after, stick with, tagalong, stick to, trail, camp follower, dog and 66 more...
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Pterodactyl's Game of Postal Abbrevia...
Here's a fun little word game that might appeal to my fellow Wordies. The object of this game is to create the longest possible word, using only the official two-letter abbreviations of U.S. states...
deny, lame, mope, demand, camp, cask, hind, decamp, canvas, scalar, mental, pronks and 75 more...
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Big Top
roadshow, hooplah, derring do, acrobat, buffoonery, cavort, hijinks, gaiety, frolic, ringmaster, stilts, tightrope and 77 more...
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capitalcreative's Words
deviltry, visceral, cassanova, assuage, genesis, hot minute, osmosis, wistful, sublime, loathe, farfetched, newfangled and 283 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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What Do You Mean $
ahh these hurt.....
hermit, prone, maxim, guise, solvenly, lurid, lax, amiable, irate, cloister, mediate, nettle and 100 more...
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billfence's Words
quotidian, flux, sawbuck, horsefeathers, chalcedony, harp, no, fox, tennis, badminton, flue, charm and 186 more...
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GRE List
anthem, ablution, apocrypha, augur, cardinal, cathedral, chant, chapel, cloister, conformist, cult, devout and 145 more...
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...:::bella:::...
originally started as an attempt to collect words I found visually and auditorially beautiful, as well as psychically evocative, this has become nothing more than a grab bag of word curiosities, a ...
bergamot, jambalaya, bee's knees, heliotrope, hosanna, gamboge, aureole, filial, madrigal, multilingual, sacrosanct, sojourn and 1072 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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Reading The Anathemata - fragments of...
pertinent to text…
gaudeous, glaciation, fecund, equinox, cranial, rubric, boreal, oblate, cognates, lithic, cerements, mime and 34 more...
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two
more
et cetera, id est, contraption, aphid, stat, magnum opus, foundry, ◬, klaxon, virago, sleuth, hoosegow and 88 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mime.

jmjarmstrong JM knows a mime who is determined to remain silent, to say the least. Jun 19, 2011
john "To mime the wind, one becomes a tempest. To mime a fish, you throw yourself into the sea."
- Marcel Marceau Sep 23, 2007