Mimic Meaning
/ˈmɪm.ɪk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
verbTo take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.
Sentence Examples
Sport is frankly mimic warfare.
A parrot can mimic a person's voice.
Sami and Layla wanted to mimic the movie.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The parrot can ____ human speech perfectly by repeating sounds it hears.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The clever parrot can perfectly ____ the sound of a ringing telephone, often confusing everyone in the house when it happens.
Word Origin & History
From Latin mīmicus, from Ancient Greek μῑμικός (mīmikós, “belonging to mimes”), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, actor”); see mime.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine."
— 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
"Jess jumped slightly at hearing Tillyʼs extremely accurate mimic of her voice."
— 2005, Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl, Bloomsbury, page 190:
"I think every man is cloied and wearied, with seeing so many apish and mimicke trickes, that juglers teach their Dogges, as the dances, where they misse not one cadence of the sounds or notes they heare[…]."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes / To imitate her."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,
Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him."
— 1800, William Wordsworth, There was a Boy:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The parrot can ____ human speech perfectly by repeating sounds it hears.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The clever parrot can perfectly ____ the sound of a ringing telephone, often confusing everyone in the house when it happens.