IMITATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Imitation

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/ˌɪmətˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Imitation n.

1.

The act of imitating. "Poesy is an art of imitation,... that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth."

2.

That which is made or produced as a copy; that which is made to resemble something else, whether for laudable or for fraudulent purposes; likeness; resemblance. "Both these arts are not only true imitations of nature, but of the best nature."

3.

(Mus.) One of the principal means of securing unity and consistency in polyphonic composition; the repetition of essentially the same melodic theme, phrase, or motive, on different degrees of pitch, by one or more of the other parts of voises. Cf. Canon.

4.

(Biol.) The act of condition of imitating another species of animal, or a plant, or unanimate object. See Imitate, v. t., 3. Note: Imitation is often used adjectively to characterize things which have a deceptive appearance, simulating the qualities of a superior article; opposed to real or genuine; as, imitation lace; imitation bronze; imitation modesty, etc.

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Etymology of 'Imitation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Imitation" Quotes from Famous Books

... being between words not only in common use but used in literature, and words in use, but not yet adopted into literature, and so relatively "nova." "Father" of course I use less strictly than Pope uses it in his well-known imitation of the passage, "For use will ...

— The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry • Horace

... fundamental reason there, I suppose, if you go deep enough," he added, fingering the ends of his short gray moustache while he kept an eye on his champagne glass. "We've done with mere classifying and imitation, and we're waiting for a fresh explosion of raw energy. Now for pure constructive imagination the North and South don't hold a candle—they simply don't hold a candle—to the West. Mark my words, in twenty-five years there'll hardly be a big railroad man in the country who wasn't born in sight ...

— Life and Gabriella - The Story of a Woman's Courage • Ellen Glasgow

... lesson which the two mischief-loving boys would not easily forget. While the whole ship's company was watching the imitation periscope Frenchy and Ikey had slipped overboard through the ash-chute, the real submarine might ...

— Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns - Sinking the German U-Boats • Halsey Davidson

... power to make him unpopular. Having lived so long in Normandy, he preferred the Normans to the English. He made a Norman Archbishop, and Norman Bishops; his great officers and favourites were all Normans; he introduced the Norman fashions and the Norman language; in imitation of the state custom of Normandy, he attached a great seal to his state documents, instead of merely marking them, as the Saxon Kings had done, with the sign of the cross—just as poor people who have never been taught to write, now make the same mark for their ...

— A Child's History of England • Charles Dickens

... mechanical imitation of this second or third-rate work; of these engravers the inferior classes ...

— On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) - A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature • John Ruskin

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