Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An image or representation.
- n. An unreal or vague semblance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. That which is formed in the likeness of any object; an image.
- n. A shadowy or unreal likeness of anything; a phantom; a vague, unreal representation.
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
- n. An image or representation.
- n. A faint trace or semblance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A likeness; a semblance; a mock appearance; a sham; -- now usually in a derogatory sense.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture)
- n. an insubstantial or vague semblance
Etymologies
- Latin simulācrum (from simulāre, to simulate; see simulate) + -crum, n. suff. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In occult writings, the word simulacrum designates some object meant to represent a whole for magical purposes.”
“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
“Replicating a simulacrum is the scincerest form of flattery.”
“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.”
“Not sure I really belive that, but you don't see the word simulacrum enough these days.”
“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
“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.”
“BTW -- your earlier post made me look up the word "simulacrum"--- your posts are always so educational!”
“We had Mechanix International construct us that foolproof android simulacrum, which is filling in for me while I--”
“Recall the simulacrum upon the surface that is no more.”
A Response to 8 Years of George W. Bush's Simulucrum on Real Humans
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘simulacrum’.
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Wordplay & Pun
wordplay, pound, conceit, clinch, joke, quibble, equivoque, double-entendre, quillet, calembour, carriwitchet, paranomasia and 90 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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Ballardian
All things descriptive from JG
Ballardoperation mindfuck, pataphysics, wahrheitssensible..., polymorphism, postprandial, covalent, stygian, lucus a non lucendo, kafkaesque, leitmotif, fugacious, ablate and 81 more...
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GRE Study guide
Going through the Magoosh website, words I pulled from the verbal section. 2012.
magnanimous, correlate, anglicized, simulacrum, tantamount, obsequiousness, subterfuge, vehement, vociferous, benign, concomitant, veracity and 83 more...
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Latin
exempli gratia, deus ex machina, prolix, sisyphean, minatory, empyrean, cicatrix, demulcent, effulgence, emulsion, garum, ablative and 39 more...
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gre words
convoluted, deride, melancholy, antagonize, antagonize, deference, portentous, prodigious, ruminate, ineffable, turgid, mossy and 58 more...
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The Fantastic Chiliastic
chiliastic, hapax legomenon, anosognosia, jactitation, infundibular, twee, callipygian, tintinnabulation, prestidigitation, anhedonia, coprolalia, parapraxis and 15 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2434 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for simulacrum.
roseandivy The simulacrum in Robin McKinley's Rose Daughter is a woman made of rose petals, that weeps rose petals. Mar 19, 2008
reesetee It always reminds me of that baby formula brand, Similac. Jun 21, 2007
arby I like this word but it always makes me think of crummy. Jun 21, 2007