imitate

English

Etymology

From Latin imitatus, past participle of imito (“to copy, portray, imitate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmɪteɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

imitate (third-person singular simple present imitates, present participle imitating, simple past and past participle imitated)

1. To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of.
   • 1870, Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste, page 170:

     Another bird quickly learned to imitate the song of a canary that was mated with it, but as the parrakeet improved in the performance the canary degenerated, and came at last to mingle the other bird's harsh chitterings with its own proper music.

   • 2019 August 21, Tik Root, “Inside the Race to Build the World's First Commercial Octopus Farm”, in Time‎^[1]:

     The room was dark and cool, lit with a dim red light. “This was designed to imitate a cave,” said Rosas.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:imitate

Antonyms

• create

Derived terms

• self-imitate

 

Related terms

• imitation
• imitative
• imitable
• imitator

Translations

to follow as a model

• Afrikaans: namaak (af), naboots, na-aap (af)
• Arabic: قَلَّدَ (qallada)

  Egyptian Arabic: قلد (ʔallid)

  Hijazi Arabic: قَلَّد (gallad)

• Armenian: ընդօրինակել (hy) (əndōrinakel)
• Asturian: imitar
• Belarusian: перайма́ць impf (pjerajmácʹ), імітава́ць impf (imitavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: подража́вам (bg) impf (podražávam), имити́рам (bg) impf or pf (imitíram)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: imitar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 模擬／模拟 (zh) (mónǐ)

• Czech: napodobit impf
• Dutch: nabootsen (nl), imiteren (nl)
• Estonian: matkima
• Finnish: matkia (fi)
• French: imiter (fr)
• Galician: imitar (gl), arremedar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: imitieren (de)
• Hungarian: utánoz (hu), imitál (hu)
• Italian: imitare (it)
• Japanese: 倣う (ja) (ならう, narau), 真似る (ja) (まねる, maneru), 模倣する (ja) (もほうする, mohō suru)
• Khmer: ត្រាប់ (km) (trap), ធ្វើត្រាប់តាម (thvəə trap taam)
• Korean: 흉내내다 (hyungnaenaeda), 본뜨다 (ko) (bontteuda)
• Latin: imitor
• Malay: tiru
• Maore Comorian: utiba
• Maori: whakatau
• Old English: onhyrian
• Polish: naśladować (pl) impf, udawać (pl) impf, imitować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: imitar (pt)
• Russian: подража́ть (ru) impf (podražátʹ), имити́ровать (ru) impf (imitírovatʹ)
• Slovene: oponašati, posnemati (sl), imitirati
• Spanish: imitar (es)
• Swahili: iga
• Swedish: imitera (sv) (1), imitera (sv), härma (sv) (2)
• Telugu: అనుకరించు (te) (anukariñcu)
• Thai: เลียน (th) (liian), เลียนแบบ (liian-bɛ̀ɛp)
• Turkish: taklit etmek (tr), (mimic), öykünmek (tr), (mimic), örnek almak (tr),(to follow as a model)
• Ukrainian: удава́ти impf (udaváty), наслі́дувати impf (naslíduvaty), імітува́ти (uk) impf (imituváty)
• Venetian: recavar
• Vietnamese: nhái (vi), bắt chước (vi), theo đòi (vi)

Further reading

• “imitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “imitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Esperanto

Adverb

imitate

1. present adverbial passive participle of imiti

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

imitate

1. inflection of imitare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

imitate f pl

1. feminine plural of imitato

Anagrams

• ematiti

Latin

Participle

imitāte

1. vocative masculine singular of imitātus

Spanish

Verb

imitate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of imitar combined with te