Imitate

Definitions: Imitate

Imitate

Verb

1. Reproduce someone's behavior or looks; "The mime imitated the passers-by"; "Children often copy their parents or older siblings".

2. Imitate in behavior or appearance; "She is imitating the comedian very well!".

Date "imitate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Note: Imitate \Im"i*tate\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Imitated; present participle verb or noun Imitating.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Imitate

Synonyms: copy (v), simulate (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Borrowing	Hire, rent, farm; take a lease, take a demise; take by the hour, take by the mile, take by the year; hire by the hour, hire by the mile, hire by the year; adopt, apply, appropriate, imitate, make use of, take.
Imitation	Verb: imitate, copy, mirror, reflect, reproduce, repeat; do like, echo, reecho, catch; transcribe; match, parallel.
Representation	Personate, personify; impersonate; assume a character; pose as; act; play; (drama); mimic; (imitate); hold the mirror up to nature.
Similarity	Verb: be similar; Adjective: look like, resemble, bear resemblance; smack of, savor of; approximate; parallel, match, rhyme with; take after; imitate; favor, span.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	I don't want my life to imitate art, I want my life to be art. (Postcards from the Edge; writing credit: Carrie Fisher) Just another case of a geek trying to imitate the popular people and failing miserably. (Heathers; writing credit: Daniel Waters) I can imitate the voice of Alexander Hamilton. (A Thousand Clowns; writing credit: Herb Gardner) They say you can imitate anyone, even their voice. (X2; writing credit: Zak Penn; David Hayter)
Lyrics	To imitate the man ("Leader Of The Band"; performing artist: Dan Fogelberg) I like to imitate old Jerry Lee ("I Love The Way You Love Me"; performing artist: John Michael Montgomery)
Clever	Hoffer's law: When people are free to do what they want, they usually imitate one another. (references; author: unknown)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Animals That Hide, Imitate and Bluff (reference) Imitate the Tiger (reference) More Sound Words: Munch, Clack, Thump, and Other Words That Imitate the Sounds Around Us (reference) Sound Words: Jingle, Buzz, Sizzle, and Other Words That Imitate the Sounds Around Us (reference) Tax Styles of the Rich and Famous: Seven Ways to Imitate Them and Beat the Tax Man (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Christian Nevell Bovee	Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.
Honore De Balzac	You may imitate, but never counterfeit.
James Baldwin	Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
Miguel De Cervantes	Good painters imitate nature, bad ones spew it up.
Philip Massinger	Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal.
W. M. Hunt	The mission of art is to represent nature; not to imitate her.
William Penn	Kings in this should imitate God, their mercy should be above their works.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	Imitate Paris, you will ruin yourself.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		Argentine players tend to imitate these golfers, in both the way they play the game and the equipment they use. The local market for golf clubs and balls is eminently brand conscious and quality seeking. (references)
Economic History	Austria	Though there is certainly no need to imitate this typical Austrian style of sales, it should indicate some limits to typical American practices. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Imitate" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 89.58% of the time. "Imitate" is used about 240 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	89.58%	215	20,643
Lexical Verb (base form)	8.75%	21	76,261
Noun (singular)	1.25%	3	202,518
Noun (proper)	0.42%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	240	N/A

Expressions using "imitate": ape imitate ♦ imitate smb. in smth.. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "imitate"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		agternadoen. (various references)

Albanian		imitoj (ape, copy, echo, follow suit, forge, mimic, mock), kopjoj (calk, copy, crib, duplicate, facsimile, pattern, replicate, transcribe, transfer, write out). (various references)

Arabic		‏قلد (affect, ape, burlesque, copy, echo, fake, follow, inaugurate, mime, mimic, mock, parrot, present, send up, sham, simulate, vest), ‏حاكى (burlesque, copy, emulate, mimic, pattern, simulate, take off), ‏زيف (adulterate, alloy, artificiality, counterfeit, doctor, fabricate, fake, falsify, falsity, forge, mockery, sham), ‏بدا (appear, look alike, ring, seem, sound). (various references)

Aymara		pachpluraña (to imitate). (various references)

Bulgarian		следвам (act on, follow, pursue, read, read for, study, take), копирам (calk, copy, trace), карикатуря, наподобявам (assimilate, become like, participate), подражавам (copy, counterfeit, echo, monkey), подправям (adulterate, cook, debase, doctor, dose, dress, fabricate, falsify, fiddle, fix up, flavour, forge, gaff, load, raise, salt, season, sophisticate, spice, wangle), имитирам (affect, ape, mimic, send up, simulate). (various references)

Chinese		效 (effect, efficacy), 摹 (copy), 摸 (copy, feel with the hand, to feel, to grope, to stroke, to touch), 模倣 , 模 (model, norm, pattern), 倣 , 仿效 (emulation, Imitated, Imitating), 儗 (doubtful, emulate, suspicious), 傚 . (various references)

Czech		imitovat (impersonate, mimic), napodobit (copy, mimic, re echo, simulate). (various references)

Danish		efterligne (emulate). (various references)

Dutch		nadoen, nabootsen (copy), imiteren. (various references)

Esperanto		imiti. (various references)

Farsi		پیروی کردن (Conform), نوای کسی رادراوردن , کپیه کردن (Calk, Copy), تقلیدکردن (Assume, Mimic, Pattern, Simulate). (various references)

Finnish		jäljitellä (ape, copy, mimic). (various references)

French		imiter (impersonate), copier. (various references)

German		imitieren (copy, counterfeit, fake, impersonate, pirate), nachahmen (ape, copy, emulate, impersonate, mimic, mock, to copy, to emulate, to imitate). (various references)

Greek		μιμούμαι (ape, echo, emulate, follow suit, mime, mimic, monkey). (various references)

Hebrew		לחקות (copy, counterfeit, emulate, impersonate, mime, mimic, pastiche, simulate). (various references)

Hungarian		utánoz (ape, counterfeit, follow suit, hit off, mimic, mock, parody, to ape, to follow suit, to imitate, to mimic, to simulate, to take off), majmol (ape, monkey, to ape, to imitate, to mimic, to monkey), másol (copy, plagiarize, to copy, to counterfeit, to imitate, to reproduce, to trace). (various references)

Indonesian		menjajat, membuntut (follow what), membeo (parrot), membebek (parrot, quack), keajukan (mimic, mock@, parrot). (various references)

Italian		imitare (ape, copy, follow, forge, mimic, mock), contraffare (adulterate, counterfeit, fake, falsify, fiddle, forge, lift, pirate, simulate). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		摸 (copy), 倣 (emulate, follow). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ほう (Act, cannon, divide, emulate, follow, gun, information, male phoenix bird, punishment, retribution, salary, side), も (algae, ancient skirt, copy, duckweed, mourning, seaweed). (various references)

Korean		모방하십시�". (various references)

Malay		tiru ... meniru. (various references)

Manx		arrish (imitation, impersonation, jeer, mockery, parody, take off, take off mimic). (various references)

Norwegian		etterligne (emulate, impersonate). (various references)

Papiamen		imitá. (various references)

Pig Latin		imitateay.(various references)

Portuguese		imitar (ape, copy, counterfeit, duplicate, pattern), copiar (copy, copy-machine, crib, duplicate, overwritten, pattern, to copy, transcribe). (various references)

Romanian		imita (ape, copy, counterfeit, echo, follow, forge, go after, mimic, parody, pattern after, simulate). (various references)

Russian		имитировать (simulate, simulates, simulating). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		imitirati (ape, emulate, mimic), podražavati (mime, mimic). (various references)

Spanish		imitar (aggravate, borrow, copy, counterfeit, echo, impersonate, mimic, pirate, take off). (various references)

Swedish		imitera (impersonate, mimic, mock, parrot, simulate), härma (ape, mimic), efterlikna (emulate, simulate), efterbilda (copy, pattern). (various references)

Thai		เลียนแบบ (ape, do, follow, mock, mock up). (various references)

Turkish		taklit etmek (ape, copy, copycat, counterfeit, do an impression of smb., echo, fake, follow suit, hit off, impersonate, mime, mimic, mock, simulate, take a leaf out of one's book, take an example by), taklidini yapmak (fudge, mimic, parody, simulate, take off), benzetmek (assimilate, associate, bash up, belabor, belabour, clobber, compare, do one's job for one, knock galley-west, liken, simulate, sort smb. out), andırmak (approach, approximate, flavor of, flavour of, partake, remind, remind of, savor of, savour of), örnek almak (copy, pattern, take a leaf out of one's book, take an example by, take as an example). (various references)

Turkmen		цяkьnmek (mimic). (various references)

Ukranian		імітувати (counterfeit, hit off, mime, mimic, model oneself on, simulate), наслідувати (ape, copy, echo), підробляти (adulterate, counterfeit, fake, falsify, feign, forge, mimic, tamper), передражнювати (mimic, mock, monkey). (various references)

Welsh		efelychu, dynwared (ape, mimic), dilyn (attend, follow, pursue), arddullio. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	aemula, aemulabantur, aemulabitur, aemulamini, aemulamur, aemulandum, aemulantes, aemulantur, aemulare, aemulari, aemularis, aemulata, aemulator, aemulatur, aemulatus, aemuleris, aemuletur, aemulor, expressa, expressam, expressas, expresserant, expressi, expresso, exprimeretis, imitando, imitandum, imitans, imitantes, imitantur, imitari, imitaris, imitata, imitatur, imitatus, imiteris, mentiar, mentiatur, mentiemini, mentientes, mentientur, mentietur, mentimur, mentior, mentiri, mentita, mentiti, mentitur, mentitus, mentiuntur, reddo, simila, similare, similari, similasti, similatus, similem, similes, simula, simulans, simulantes, simulare, simularent, simularetur, simulas, simulata, simulator, simulaverant. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "imitate": imitated, imitates. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Imitate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Civitate, emutate, ilitate, imidate, imimate, iminate, imitaste, imitata, imitawe, immirate, immitate, imutate, iniate, initate, intiate, iritate, Ixibatae, migitate, migmatite, miktat, mitate, Timikata. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "imitate" (pronounced i"mutā't)
4	-u t ā' t	acetate, agitate, amputate, annotate, cogitate, debilitate, decapitate, facilitate, gravitate, hesitate, incapacitate, irritate, levitate, meditate, militate, necessitate, precipitate, premeditate, rehabilitate, resuscitate, vegetate.
3	-t ā' t	devastate, downstate, mutate, overstate, potentate, prostate, punctate, rotate, tristate, understate.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-e-i-i-m-t-t"
	-2 letters: matte.
	-3 letters: amie, emit, item, mate, matt, meat, meta, mite, mitt, tame, tate, team, teat, time, titi.
	-4 letters: aim, ait, ami, ate, att, eat, eta, mae, mat, met, tae, tam, tat, tea, tet, tie, tit.
	-5 letters: ae, ai, am, at, em, et, it, ma, me, mi, ta, ti.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-i-i-m-t-t"
	+1 letter: imitated, imitates, intimate, militate, mitigate.
	+2 letters: diatomite, hematitic, imitative, impatient, intimated, intimater, intimates, literatim, militated, militates, ministate, mitigated, mitigates.
	+3 letters: antiemetic, arithmetic, dermatitis, diatomites, estimating, estimation, estimative, immittance, imputative, intimately, intimaters, intimidate, legitimate, limitative, mastitides, maturities, meditating, meditation, meditative, ministates, mithridate, mitigative, motivative, pegmatitic, stigmatize, termitaria, tiemannite.
	+4 letters: altimetries, antielitism, antiemetics, arithmetics, athleticism, bimetallist, estimations, imitatively, immanentist, immittances, impatiently, impetrating, impetration, interatomic, intimidated, intimidates, itemization, legitimated, legitimates, legitimator, martensitic, materialist, materiality, maternities, meditations, meltability, mentalistic, mentalities, metafiction, metrication, midlatitude, misestimate, mistreating, mithridates, mortalities, mutualities, readmitting, semanticist, stigmatized, stigmatizes, stimulative, taxidermist, terminating, termination, terminative, termitaries, termitarium, testimonial, tiemannites, triumvirate, unmitigated.
	+5 letters: actinometric, administrate, aestheticism, alimentation, anthelmintic, antielitisms, antifeminist, antimagnetic, antinepotism, arithmetical, athleticisms, bimetallists, delimitation, dermatitides, dermatitises, dilatometric, dilettantism, emotionalist, emotionality, expatriatism, extralimital, illegitimate, immanentists, immaturities, impetrations, imputatively, infotainment, intermediate, intimateness, itemizations, legitimately, legitimating, legitimation, legitimatize, legitimators, materialists, meditatively, mercantilist, meristematic, meritocratic, metafictions, meteoritical, metrications, midlatitudes, militantness, misattribute, misestimated, misestimates, monetization, multipartite, multivariate, mutabilities, mutagenicity, nonimitative, optimalities, pigmentation, pneumaticity, preadmitting, reestimating, remotivating, remotivation, semanticists, semiliterate, simultaneity, stomatitides, stomatitises, taxidermists, terminations, testimonials, triumvirates.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.