imitation

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Following of a model

Nouns

1. imitation; quotation, paraphrase, parody, travesty, burlesque; copy, forgery (see falsehood); mockery, mimicry; simulation, pretense, sham, impersonation, imposture; representation; semblance; assimilation. Informal, take-off, Simon says, follow the leader.

2. model, prototype, pattern, mock-up; exemplar, paragon, original; type, standard; role model. See conformity.

3. imitator, mimic, cuckoo, parrot, ape, monkey, mockingbird; counterfeiter, forger. Informal, copycat. Slang, wannabe.

Verbs — imitate, copy, catch; match, parallel; mock, take off, mimic, parrot, ape, simulate, [im]personate; act (see drama); represent (see representation); counterfeit, parody, travesty, caricature, burlesque; feign, dissemble (see falsehood); follow, pattern after; follow suit; take after, model after; emulate, follow in one's footsteps or tracks.

Adjectives — imitated, imitating; mock; mimic; modeled after, molded on; quasi, pseudo; paraphrastic; literal; imitative; secondhand; imitable, unoriginal.

Adverbs — imitatively; literally, to the letter, verbatim, literatim; sic; word for word.

Phrases — imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Quotations — All art is but imitation of nature (Seneca), Life imitates art far more than art imitates life (Oscar Wilde), In the matter of slavish imitation, man is the monkey's superior all the time (Mark Twain).

Antonyms, see unconformity, identity.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

Syn. copied, feigned, simulated, bogus; see artificial 1 , false 3 .

n.

1. [The act of imitating]

Syn. simulation, counterfeiting, copying, duplication, reproduction, emulation, patterning after, picturing, representing, mimicry, aping, impersonation, impression, parody, paraphrasing, parroting, echoing, matching, mirroring, paralleling; see also parody , reproduction 1 .

2. [An object made by imitating]

Syn. counterfeit, copy, simulacrum, sham, fake, picture, replica, facsimile, echo, reflection, match, parallel, opposite number, animation, resemblance, transcription, image, mockery, takeoff, substitution, forgery, artist's copy, ersatz, knockoff*; see also copy , duplicate , reproduction 2 .

Ant. original, novelty*, pattern.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

simulation, copy, fake, replica, likeness, facsimile, *phony, counterfeit, *sham, fraud, clone, parody, caricature, impersonation, impression. ''The sincerest form of flattery.''—Charles Colton.

ANT.: genuine article, *the real McCoy, original

II

a.

simulated, fake, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, phony, bogus, mock.

ANT.: authentic, genuine, real

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. The act, practice, or art of copying the manner or expression of another: aping, mimicry. See SAME. 2. Imitative reproduction, as of the style of another: echo, reflection, reflex, repetition. See SAME. 3. A usually amusing caricature of another: parody. Informal: takeoff. See LAUGHTER, RESPECT, SAME. 4. An inferior substitute imitating an original: copy, ersatz, pinchbeck, simulation. See SUBSTITUTE. II adjective Made to imitate something else: artificial, manmade, mock, simulated, synthetic. Informal: pretend. See REAL.