IMITATE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Imitate

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/ˈɪmətˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Imitate v. t. (past & past part. imitated; pres. part. imitating)

To follow as a pattern, model, or example; to copy or strive to copy, in acts, manners etc. "Despise wealth and imitate a dog."

To produce a semblance or likeness of, in form, character, color, qualities, conduct, manners, and the like; to counterfeit; to copy. "A place picked out by choice of best alive The Nature's work by art can imitate." "This hand appeared a shining sword to weild, And that sustained an imitated shield."

(Biol.) To resemble (another species of animal, or a plant, or inanimate object) in form, color, ornamentation, or instinctive habits, so as to derive an advantage thereby; sa, when a harmless snake imitates a venomous one in color and manner, or when an odorless insect imitates, in color, one having secretion offensive to birds.

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Etymology of 'Imitate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Imitate" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the past, giving him the aspect of a fated man. Is it too wild a thought that my fate may have assumed this image of myself, and therefore haunts me with such inevitable pertinacity, originating every act which it appears to imitate, while it deludes me by pretending to share the events of which it is merely the emblem and the prophecy? I must banish this idea, or it will throw too deep an awe round my companion. At our next meeting, especially if it be at midnight or in solitude, I fear that I shall ...

— Monsieur du Miroir (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... was then a mere ornamental figure-head to the department. In a short while, however, Watson was accidentally killed; and Sweeny resigned, leaving Connolly master of the situation. He was suspected by Tweed, and in his turn distrusted the "Boss." It is said that he resolved, however, to imitate his colleagues, and enrich himself at the cost of the public. He did well. In the short period of three years, this man, who had entered upon his office poor, became a millionaire. He made his son Auditor ...

— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe

... brought to America when she was five years old, and lived and went to school in Brooklyn. Two of her elder sisters were upon the stage, but she does not seem to have indicated any especial desire to imitate them, and her first appearance was by accident. An actress playing a small part in "Across the Continent" was taken suddenly ill, and the child, who happened to be at the theatre, was hastily dressed for it and taught her few lines; but she displayed so much readiness and natural talent ...

— American Men of Mind • Burton E. Stevenson

... is an attempt (and the committee of taste pronounced it a successful one), to imitate the excellent and generally approved mock turtle made by ...

— The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual • William Kitchiner

... of nameless messengers From unknown distances may whisper fear, And it will imitate immortal permanence, And stare and stare ahead and ...

— Modern British Poetry • Various

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