Wiktionary

imitate

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin imitātus, perfect active participle of imitor (“to copy, portray, imitate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French imiter.

Pronunciation

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  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɪmɪteɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Verb

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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

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

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Esperanto

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Adverb

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imitate

  1. present adverbial passive participle of imiti

Italian

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Etymology 1

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Verb

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imitate

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

Etymology 2

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Participle

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imitate f pl

  1. feminine plural of imitato

Anagrams

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Latin

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Participle

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imitāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of imitātus

Spanish

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Verb

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imitate

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