Mimic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪmɪk

Alternative forms

• mimick

Origin

From Latin mimicus, from Ancient Greek μιμικός (mimikos, "belonging to mimes"), from μῖμος (mimos, "imitator, actor"); see mime.

Full definition of mimic

Verb

1. To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
• 2013-06-01, A better waterworks, An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
2. (biology) To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.

Synonyms

Noun

1. A person who practices mimicry, or mime.
2. An imitation.

Adjective

1. Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.
• 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.12:I think every man is cloied and wearied, with seeing so many apish and mimicke trickes, that juglers teach their Dogges, as the dances, where they misse not one cadence of the sounds or notes they heare ....
• MiltonOft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes
  To imitate her.
• WordsworthMimic hootings.
2. Mock, pretended.
3. (mineralogy) Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.

Related terms

• mime
• mimicable
• mimicry