| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| imitate |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | im·i·tate |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   m -t t |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: im·i·tat·ed, im·i·tat·ing, im·i·tates
1. To use or follow as a model. 2a. To copy the actions, appearance, mannerisms, or speech of; mimic: amused friends by imitating the teachers. b. To copy or use the style of: brushwork that imitates Rembrandt. 3. To copy exactly; reproduce. 4. To appear like; resemble. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Latin imitr , imitt-. See aim- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | imi·tator —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | imitate, copy, mimic, ape, parody, simulate These verbs mean to follow something or someone taken as a model. To imitate is to act like or follow a pattern or style set by another: “Art imitates Nature” (Richard Franck). To copy is to duplicate an original as precisely as possible: “His grandfather had spent a laborious life-time in Rome, copying the Old Masters for a generation which lacked the facile resource of the camera” (Edith Wharton, The Pot-Boiler Dec 1904.) To mimic is to make a close imitation, often with an intent to ridicule: “fresh carved cedar, mimicking a glade/Of palm and plaintain” (John Keats). To ape is to follow another's lead slavishly but often with an absurd result: “Those [superior] states of mind do not come from aping an alien culture” (John Russell). To parody is either to imitate with comic effect or to attempt a serious imitation and fail: “All these peculiarities [of Samuel Johnson's literary style] have been imitated by his admirers and parodied by his assailants” (Thomas Macaulay). To simulate is to feign or falsely assume the appearance or character of something: “I … lay there simulating death” (W.H. Hudson).
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
