- To use or follow as a model.
- To copy the actions, appearance, mannerisms, or speech of; mimic: amused friends by imitating the teachers.
- To copy or use the style of: brushwork that imitates Rembrandt.
- To copy exactly; reproduce.
- To appear like; resemble.
[Latin imitārī, imitāt-.]
imitator im'i·ta'tor n.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). 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 (John Russell). To parody is either to imitate with comic effect or to attempt a serious imitation and fail: "All these peculiarities (Thomas Macaulay). To simulate is to feign or falsely assume the appearance or character of something: "I ... lay there simulating death" (W.H. Hudson).
