Definitions

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

  • noun An image or representation.
  • noun An unreal or vague semblance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That which is formed in the likeness of any object; an image.
  • noun A shadowy or unreal likeness of anything; a phantom; a vague, unreal representation.
  • noun A formal sign; a sign which represents a thing by resembling it, but does not indicate it, or stand for the actual presence of the thing.

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

  • noun A likeness; a semblance; a mock appearance; a sham; -- now usually in a derogatory sense.

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

  • noun An image or representation.
  • noun A faint trace or semblance.

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

  • noun a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture)
  • noun an insubstantial or vague semblance

Etymologies

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

[Latin simulācrum (from simulāre, to simulate; see simulate) + -crum, n. suff.]

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Examples

  • In occult writings, the word simulacrum designates some object meant to represent a whole for magical purposes.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • In occult writings, the word simulacrum designates some object meant to represent a whole for magical purposes.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • In occult writings, the word simulacrum designates some object meant to represent a whole for magical purposes.

    Dancing with Werewolves Carole Nelson Douglas 2009

  • It must be understood that the term simulacrum is defined as "a material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing," as "something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities," as "a mere image, a specious imitation or likeness, of something" (OED).

    A Response to 8 Years of George W. Bush's Simulucrum on Real Humans 2008

  • Replicating a simulacrum is the scincerest form of flattery.

    KEIRA KNIGHTLEY ON HER PERIOD AGAIN 2007

  • Such a substitution by the Power Elites/State partnership of symbolic prosperity for broad-based, real prosperity is what I term a simulacrum of prosperity in my analysis.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

  • Not sure I really belive that, but you don't see the word simulacrum enough these days.

    "Of all the debates Sullivan has been embroiled in, his collision with the gay left is the hardest to reconstruct..." Ann Althouse 2009

  • Kelly: One of the things I will take away from having read Atmospheric Disturbances is the word simulacrum, a word that Leo often uses to describe the facsimile of his wife Rema that is a lot like her and yet not at all her as far as Leo is concerned.

    Archive 2008-12-01 2008

  • Kelly: One of the things I will take away from having read Atmospheric Disturbances is the word simulacrum, a word that Leo often uses to describe the facsimile of his wife Rema that is a lot like her and yet not at all her as far as Leo is concerned.

    Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances - Loaded Questions Interview 2008

  • Baudrillard predicts that in postmodern society the distinction between original products and commodities and their copies weakens, while an interim form called the simulacrum, which is neither original nor copy, becomes dominant.

    Anime Nano! 2010

Comments

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  • I like this word but it always makes me think of crummy.

    June 21, 2007

  • It always reminds me of that baby formula brand, Similac.

    June 21, 2007

  • The simulacrum in Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter is a woman made of rose petals, that weeps rose petals.

    March 19, 2008