imitating
Acting like another
Imitating is copying or mimicking something—reproducing another's behavior, appearance, sound, or style: She's imitating her older sister, a comedian imitating celebrities.
The goal may be learning, flattery, mockery, or deception.
Animals imitate for survival; humans imitate to learn, entertain, or deceive.
Copying another's behavior
- emulatingCopying to equal
- replicatingMaking exact copies
- duplicatingCreating exact copies
- mirroringReproducing an image identically
reproducing · copying · cloning · echoing · simulating · recreating · matching · counterfeiting
Imitating for comic effect
- satirizingCritiquing through exaggerated mockery
- lampooningRidiculing through exaggeration
- caricaturingExaggerating features humorously
- spoofingFraudulent imitation
sending up · ridiculing · burlesquing · impersonating · roasting · skewering · exaggerating · deriding
mimicking
Copying another's behavior
- emulatingCopying to equal
- replicatingMaking exact copies
- duplicatingCreating exact copies
mirroring · reproducing · copying · cloning · echoing · simulating · recreating · matching · mirroring · counterfeiting
parodying
Imitating for comic effect
- satirizingCritiquing through exaggerated mockery
- lampooningRidiculing through exaggeration
- caricaturingExaggerating features humorously
spoofing · sending up · ridiculing · burlesquing · impersonating · roasting · skewering · exaggerating · deriding · mimicry
- mirroringcopying, reflecting, mimicking, duplicating, replicating
- interactionstalking, sharing, greeting, helping, listening
- Simulationcopying, mimicking, replicating, mirroring, emulating
- actingacting, act, performing, playacting, actor
- copyingcopying, copy, plagiarism, repeating, duplicating
- leisurely activitiesrelaxing, strolling, lounging, wandering, daydreaming
imitatingcreating
Making something new
originating · innovating · inventing · pioneering · devising
imitatingleading
Guiding or pacing type
trendsetting · influencing · inspiring · paving the way · initiating
- imitation crabProcessed fish mimicking shellfish
- life imitating artReality shaped by fiction
- pale imitationInferior version of something
- imitation vanillaSynthetic bean-pod flavoring
- imitation leather
- The Imitation GameEnigma decryption drama