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What is "imitate"

Crossword clues for imitate

imitate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
imitate
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
child
▪ The children imitated the bird's behaviour, arms outstretched.
▪ Such children imitate what they see but do not yet reason like their older playmates.
life
▪ And a clear case of life imitating astrology.
▪ When you have that taking place, not only do you have art imitating life, but you have life imitating art.
▪ This is where it was life imitating art imitating life.
▪ She had also been taught, when in difficulty, to think of a good life to imitate.
sound
▪ Smiling, recognising, swiping, grabbing, balancing on his bottom, eating, imitating sounds, crawling, standing.
▪ Many of the stringed instruments imitate the sounds of horses; wind instruments imitate the sounds of birds and other wild animals.
▪ Parrots have an advantage over and above chimpanzees in that they can, of course, imitate human sounds.
▪ Many of the stringed instruments imitate the sounds of horses; wind instruments imitate the sounds of birds and other wild animals.
▪ Dolphins have a remarkable capacity for vocal mimicry, and they learn to imitate sounds very accurately and quickly.
style
▪ Like many dance directors he imitated the Tiller style and by undercutting could offer some work.
▪ We imitated the styles of Conrad, Hemingway, and Time magazine.
▪ Sports heroes and pop stars provide images for teenagers, who may imitate them and style themselves upon them.
■ VERB
try
▪ His eyes seemed to be trying to imitate a lizard and swivel in opposite directions.
▪ I tried to imitate it but I couldn't do it.
▪ What am I trying to do, imitate twenty-two-year-olds?
▪ I guessed he was trying to imitate the movements of a skier.
▪ And to try to imitate that is the biggest mistake in the world.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Don't you talk to me like that!" she said imitating her mother's high-pitched voice.
▪ A lot of writers have tried to imitate Lawrence's style.
▪ He has a unique ability to imitate any sound he has heard.
▪ Our methods have been imitated all over the world.
▪ She's really good at imitating our teacher's Scottish accent.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ An animal acquires the behaviour pattern by imitating it from another.
▪ And a clear case of life imitating astrology.
▪ I had the ability to imitate.
▪ It was as if the ecology of the place had chosen to imitate politics.
▪ They respond in sympathy to what she is doing and imitate her movements.
▪ They still resent the deep disappointment that has followed attempts to imitate the West.
▪ We imitated the styles of Conrad, Hemingway, and Time magazine.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Imitate

Imitate \Im"i*tate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Imitated; p. pr. & vb. n. Imitating.] [L. imitatus, p. p. of imitari to imitate; of unknown origin. Cf. Image.]

  1. To follow as a pattern, model, or example; to copy or strive to copy, in acts, manners etc.

    Despise wealth and imitate a dog.
    --Cowlay.

  2. To produce a semblance or likeness of, in form, character, color, qualities, conduct, manners, and the like; to counterfeit; to copy.

    A place picked out by choice of best alive The Nature's work by art can imitate.
    --Spenser.

    This hand appeared a shining sword to weild, And that sustained an imitated shield.
    --Dryden.

  3. (Biol.) To resemble (another species of animal, or a plant, or inanimate object) in form, color, ornamentation, or instinctive habits, so as to derive an advantage thereby; sa, when a harmless snake imitates a venomous one in color and manner, or when an odorless insect imitates, in color, one having secretion offensive to birds.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
imitate

1530s, a back-formation from imitation or imitator, or else from Latin imitatus. Related: Imitated; imitating. An Old English word for this was æfterhyrigan.

Wiktionary
imitate

vb. 1 To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of. 2 To copy.

Related phrases:
WordNet
imitate

  1. v. reproduce someone's behavior or looks; "The mime imitated the passers-by"; "Children often copy their parents or older siblings" [syn: copy, simulate]

  2. appear like, as in behavior or appearance; "Life imitate art"

  3. make a reproduction or copy of

Usage examples of "imitate".

We can imitate the effect of gravity through suitably accelerated motion.

The same uniform original spirit of superstition might suggest, in the most distant ages and countries, the same methods of deceiving the credulity, and of affecting the senses of mankind: but it must ingenuously be confessed, that the ministers of the Catholic church imitated the profane model, which they were impatient to destroy.

Across the road, beyond the shuttered se afront kiosks, the sky was a dirty grey mass of rolling clouds, imitating the swell and froth of the sea.

These two Bacchantes began to imitate the caresses I lavished on my housekeeper, who was quite astonished at the amorous fury with which my attendant played the part of a man with the other girl.

And if you wanted to have a little fun with Badger, you would not have disguised yourself and imitated his way of speaking.

However, the old woman set up a dismal shriek, the children imitated her, and the poor girl began to cry.

She stretched out her hand as if to toy with me, whereupon I gave her a slight box on the ear, and imitating the manner of a repentant cavalier she kissed my hand and begged my pardon.

Commander bn Bem bowed before him as Kirk, Spock, and McCoy did their awkward best to imitate the gesture.

The three men tramped stolidly along, the two novices imitating as best they could the angular gait, as of one who rarely stretched his legs, and the blindish carriage of the charcoal-burner.

There in that little plane, she imitated the bulbul of Malaysia and the morepork owl of New Zealand, and so on.

Opposite him was Commander Ralph Busch, the CIA representative with a short fuse, who after five years attached to the Embassy in Grosvenor Square considered himself more British than the British, and even imitated the Foreign Office style of dress to prove it.

It is mentioned in the 1586 edition of Caccia, and it is added that the water of the fountain would be brought there shortly so as to imitate the Jordan.

The form of the human body can be imitated by taking a suit of old garments, stuffing them with straw, and covering them with buff cambric, on which hieroglyphics can be painted.

But before they could recover their wits sufficiently to run, the little painted wizard uttered such a string of cries and grunts, imitating horse and eagle and chacma baboon, at the same time prancing and flapping and scratching, that their terror turned to fascination.

Lang gave him a present in the form of a thick volume of words and lyrics for evergreens and other sing-alongs, and Chi showed remarkable talent in imitating the texts once Lang had pronounced them to him a few times.