imitativeadj.n.
/ˈɪmɪteɪtɪv/ A. adj.
1.
a. Characterized by or consisting in imitation. imitative arts, the arts of painting and sculpture; imitative word, a word which reproduces a natural sound.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective]
imitative1573
imitating1591
mimeticala1617
emulous1667
eicastic1669
mimetic1669
imitative1700
imitational1833
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > [noun]
arts of imitation1638
design1638
art1668
fine arts1686
imitative arts1753
designation1796
fine art1804
beaux arts1821
visual art1857
machine art1945
picturedom1945
1573 Life Virgil in T. Phaer & T. Twyne tr. Virgil Whole .xii. Bks. Æneidos sig. A vij There are three kinde of stiles in a Poeme, ether Actiue, ether Imitatiue which Graecians call Dramaticum.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 79 Ploughing is an imitative Toil, Resembling Nature in an easie Soil. View more context for this quotation
1753 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 91 It is allowed by the most skilful in the imitative arts.
1853 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice II. vi. 185 This is the error..of merely imitative painters of still life, flowers, &c.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 15 Words which are evidently imitative, like ‘peewit’.
b. Const. of.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective]
imitative1573
imitating1591
mimeticala1617
emulous1667
eicastic1669
mimetic1669
imitative1700
imitational1833
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite ii, in Fables 44 This Temple..Was imitative of the first in Thrace.
1849 E. A. Freeman Hist. Archit. i. i. v. 93 Some of them are..directly imitative of the timber construction.
1867 R. Broughton Not Wisely, but too Well II. ii. 36 Walking..in a manner feebly imitative of the human gait.
2. Given to imitation; prone to imitate, copy, or mimic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective] > given or prone to imitation
mimetic1637
imitative1752
1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 216 The human mind is of a very imitative nature.
1827 W. Gifford Ford's Plays Introd. 36 At present, we are become an imitative, not to say a mimic, race.
1837 S. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 249 Human beings are very imitative.
3. That imitates the appearance of something else; simulative; fictitious; counterfeit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > simulation > [adjective] > artificial or made in imitation of what is real
artificialc1425
unnatural1610
mimical1624
mimic1625
faux1684
mimetic1756
sham1762
imitative1839
imitation1840
mocked-up1919
synthetic1930
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > [adjective]
counterfeitedc1385
counterfeitc1386
trothlessa1393
bastard1397
forged1484
apocryphate1486
adulterate?a1509
mockisha1513
sophisticate1531
adulterine1542
adulterous1547
mock1548
forbate1558
coined1582
firking1594
feigned1598
adulterated1610
apocryphal1612
spurious1615
usurpeda1616
impostured1619
mock-madea1625
suppository1641
affictitious1656
pasteboard1659
sophisticated1673
flam1678
Brummagem1679
sham1681
belieda1718
fictitious1739
Birmingham1785
pinchbeck1790
brummish1803
Brum1805
flash1812
spurious1830
bogus1839
imitative1839
dummy1846
doctored1853
postiche1854
pseudo1854
Brummagemish1855
snide1859
inauthentic1860
fake1879
bum1884
Brummie1886
tin1886
filled1887
duff1889
faked1890
shicec1890
margarine1891
dud1904
Potemkin village1904
mocked-up1919
phoney baloney1936
four-flushing1942
bodgie1956
moody1958
disauthentic1960
bodgied1988
bodgied-up1988
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxv. 245 Dazzling articles of imitative jewellery, almost equal to real.
(See quot. 1678) Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Imitatives, in Grammar, those sort of Verbs which express any kind of Imitation; as Patrissare, to take after the Father, or imitate his actions, humor, or fashion.
Derivatives
ˈimitatively adv. in an imitative manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adverb]
imitably1616
mimically1623
mimetically1647
imitatively1879
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator v. 279 If plants are employed as ornaments they must not be treated imitatively.
ˈimitativeness n. imitative quality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [noun] > imitativeness
mimicalness1647
imitancy1832
imitativenessa1846
a1846 Martineau cited in Worcester for *Imitativeness.
a1849 E. A. Poe H. B. Hirst in Wks. (1864) III. 209 His chief sin is imitativeness.
1973 Daily Tel. 9 Feb. (Colour Suppl.) 7/2 The imitativeness in these films is even more striking than their lack of artistry.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.n.1573