- 1imitate 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.
- 2imitate somebody to copy the way a person speaks or behaves, in order to amuse people 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’.
imitate
verbBrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪt//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they imitate BrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪt//
he / she / it imitates BrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪts//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪts//
past simple imitated BrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd//
past participle imitated BrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪd//
-ing form imitating BrE BrE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈɪmɪteɪtɪŋ//
Check pronunciation: imitate
