imitate
verb /ˈɪmɪteɪt/
/ˈɪmɪteɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they imitate | /ˈɪmɪteɪt/ /ˈɪmɪteɪt/ |
| he / she / it imitates | /ˈɪmɪteɪts/ /ˈɪmɪteɪts/ |
| past simple imitated | /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd/ /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd/ |
| past participle imitated | /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd/ /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form imitating | /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪŋ/ /ˈɪmɪteɪtɪŋ/ |
- imitate somebody/something to copy somebody/something
- Her style of painting has been imitated by other artists.
- Art imitates Nature.
- Teachers provide a model for children to imitate.
- No computer can imitate the complex functions of the human brain.
- Dolphins learn to imitate sounds very accurately and quickly.
- imitate somebody to copy the way a person speaks or behaves, in order to make people laugh synonym mimic
- She knew that the girls used to imitate her and laugh at her behind her back.
- He tried to imitate my Scots accent and we both laughed.
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from Latin imitat- ‘copied’, from the verb imitari; related to imago ‘image’.