IMITATIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does imitative mean? 

• IMITATIVE (adjective)
  The adjective IMITATIVE has 3 senses:

1. marked by or given to imitation

2. (of words) formed in imitation of a natural sound

3. not genuine; imitating something superior

  Familiarity information: IMITATIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMITATIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by or given to imitation

Context example:

man is an imitative being

Similar:

apelike; apish (being or given to servile imitation)

mimetic (exhibiting mimicry)

mimic (constituting an imitation)

parrotlike (mechanically imitated or repeated without thought or understanding)

simulated (reproduced or made to resemble; imitative in character)

Antonym:

nonimitative (not marked by or given to imitation)

Derivation:

imitate (reproduce someone's behavior or looks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(of words) formed in imitation of a natural sound

Synonyms:

echoic; imitative; onomatopoeic; onomatopoeical; onomatopoetic

Context example:

it was independently developed in more than one place as an onomatopoetic term

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not genuine; imitating something superior

Synonyms:

counterfeit; imitative

Context example:

a counterfeit prince

Similar:

bad; forged (reproduced fraudulently)

synthetic (not genuine or natural)

pseudo ((often used in combination) not genuine but having the appearance of)

pinchbeck (serving as an imitation or substitute)

ostensible; ostensive (represented or appearing as such; pretended)

mock (constituting a copy or imitation of something)

inauthentic; spurious; unauthentic (false or fake; not what it appears to be)

bastard; bogus; fake; phoney; phony (fraudulent; having a misleading appearance)

base (debased; not genuine)

assumed; false; fictitious; fictive; pretended; put on; sham (adopted in order to deceive)

Also:

artificial; unreal (contrived by art rather than nature)

unreal (lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria)

insincere (lacking sincerity)

false (not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality)

Derivation:

imitate (make a reproduction or copy of)

 Context examples 

Personally, he was an intellectual moralist, and more offending to him than platitudinous pomposity was the morality of those about him, which was a curious hotchpotch of the economic, the metaphysical, the sentimental, and the imitative.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)