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Definition of imitate verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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/
jump to other results
  1. 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.
  2. imitate somebody/something 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.
  3. Word Originmid 16th cent.: from Latin imitat- ‘copied’, from the verb imitari; related to imago ‘image’.
See imitate in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee imitate in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
trait
noun
 
 
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