imitate

Contents

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (US) 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.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:imitate

Antonyms

• create

Related terms

• imitation
• imitative
• imitable
• imitator

Translations

to follow as a model

• Armenian: ընդօրինակել (hy) (əndōrinakel)
• Asturian: imitar
• Belarusian: перайма́ць impf (pjerajmácʹ), імітава́ць impf (imitavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: подража́вам (bg) impf (podražávam), имити́рам (bg) impf, pf (imitíram)
• Catalan: imitar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 模擬 (zh), 模拟 (zh) (mónǐ)

• Czech: napodobit impf
• Dutch: nabootsen (nl), imiteren (nl)
• Estonian: matkima
• Finnish: matkia (fi)
• French: imiter (fr)
• Galician: imitar, arremedar
• German: imitieren (de)
• Hungarian: utánoz (hu), imitál
• Italian: imitare (it)

• Japanese: 倣う (ja) (ならう, narau), 真似る (まねる, maneru), 模倣する (ja) (もほうする, mohō suru)
• Korean: 흉내내다 (hyungnaenaeda), 본뜨다 (ko) (bontteuda)
• Malay: tiru
• Maore Comorian: utiba
• Maori: whakatau
• Old English: ġeefenlǣċan
• 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: kuiga (sw)
• Swedish: imitera (sv) (1), imitera (sv), härma (sv) (2)
• Telugu: అనుకరించు (te) (anukariñcu)
• Ukrainian: удава́ти impf (udaváty), наслі́дувати impf (naslíduvaty), імітува́ти (uk) impf (imituváty)
• Vietnamese: nhái (vi), bắt chước (vi)

Further reading

• imitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• imitate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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Italian

Verb

imitate

1. second-person plural present indicative of imitare
2. second-person plural imperative of imitare
3. feminine plural of imitato

Anagrams

• ematiti

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Latin

Participle

imitāte

1. vocative masculine singular of imitātus