English

Alternative forms

• mimick

Verb

mimic ‎(third-person singular simple present mimics, present participle mimicking, simple past and past participle mimicked)

1. To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     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

• See also Wikisaurus:imitate

Translations

Noun

mimic ‎(plural mimics)

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

Translations

Adjective

mimic ‎(comparative more mimic, superlative most mimic)

1. Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, 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 […].

   • Milton

     Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes / To imitate her.

   • Wordsworth

     Mimic 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