Meanings
present singular third person imitates · participle present imitating · participle past imitated · past imitated
- To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of.
The room was dark and cool, lit with a dim red light. “This was designed to imitate a cave,” said Rosas.
2019 August 21, Tik Root, “Inside the Race to Build the World's First Commercial Octopus Farm”, in TIME, archived from the original on 28 Aug 20192 more examples
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.
1870, Shirley Hibberd, Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste, page 170A wave simulator in the tank can re-enact tsunamis and northeasters, and imitate wave conditions from midocean.
2007 February 20, Tina Kelley, “A Wet Wind Tunnel So Ships Can Move Faster and Better”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2022Synonyms: ape, mimic, simulate, copy, ditto, echo, emulate, parallel
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans namaak, naboots
- namaakto follow as a model
- nabootsto follow as a model
- na-aapto follow as a model
Arabic قَلَّدَ
- قَلَّدَ (qallada)to follow as a model
Bulgarian подража́вам, имити́рам
- подража́вам (podražávam)to follow as a model
- имити́рам (imitíram)to follow as a model
Catalan imitar
- imitarto follow as a model
Chinese Mandarin 模擬 /模拟
- 模擬 /模拟 (mónǐ)to follow as a model
Czech napodobit
- napodobitto follow as a model
Dutch nabootsen, imiteren
- nabootsento follow as a model
- imiterento follow as a model
Esperanto imiti
- imitito follow as a model
Estonian matkima
- matkimato follow as a model
Finnish matkia
- matkiato follow as a model
French imiter
- imiterto follow as a model
German imitieren, nachahmen
- imitierento follow as a model
- nachahmento follow as a model
Hindi अनुकृति करना, अनुकरण करना
- अनुकृति करना (anukŕti karnā)to follow as a model
- अनुकरण करना (anukraṇ karnā)to follow as a model
Hungarian utánoz, imitál
- utánozto follow as a model
- imitálto follow as a model
Italian imitare
- imitareto follow as a model
Japanese 倣う, 真似る
- 倣う (narau)to follow as a model
- 真似る (maneru)to follow as a model
- 模倣する (mohō suru)to follow as a model
Korean 흉내내다, 본뜨다
- 흉내내다 (hyungnaenaeda)to follow as a model
- 본뜨다 (bontteuda)to follow as a model
Latin imitor
- imitorto follow as a model
Malay tiru
- tiruto follow as a model
Māori whakatau
- whakatauto follow as a model
Polish naśladować, udawać
- naśladowaćto follow as a model
- udawaćto follow as a model
- imitowaćto follow as a model
Portuguese imitar
- imitarto follow as a model
Russian подража́ть, имити́ровать
- подража́ть (podražátʹ)to follow as a model
- имити́ровать (imitírovatʹ)to follow as a model
Spanish imitar
- imitarto follow as a model
Swahili iga
- igato follow as a model
Swedish imitera, imitera
- imiterato follow as a model
- imiterato follow as a model
- härmato follow as a model
Thai เลียน, เลียนแบบ
- เลียน (liian)to follow as a model
- เลียนแบบ (liian-bɛ̀ɛp)to follow as a model
Turkish taklit etmek, öykünmek
- taklit etmekto follow as a model
- öykünmekto follow as a model
- örnek almakto follow as a model
Ukrainian удава́ти, наслі́дувати
- удава́ти (udaváty)to follow as a model
- наслі́дувати (naslíduvaty)to follow as a model
- імітува́ти (imituváty)to follow as a model
Vietnamese nhái, bắt chước
- nháito follow as a model
- bắt chướcto follow as a model
- theo đòito follow as a model
Cite this entry
imitate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imitate
“imitate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imitate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “imitate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imitate.
Source: imitate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.