mimetic

adjective

mi·met·ic | \-ˈme-tik

\

Definition of mimetic

2 : relating to, characterized by, or exhibiting mimicry mimetic coloring of a butterfly

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Examples of mimetic in a Sentence

boys have a tendency toward mimetic behavior, often imitating their fathers at a fairly early age

Recent Examples on the Web

This cycle of mimetic exhibitionism holds even for metaphysical things like moral values, which in a world colonized by capitalism have become a wearable commodity. — Susan Crawford, WIRED, "Mark Zuckerberg Plays the Scapegoat for Our Facebook Sins," 17 Apr. 2018 Ashbery’s poems—cerebral and spectral, equal parts brain and spirit—refuse to summon a mimetic picture of the world — Katy Waldman, Slate Magazine, "John Ashbery’s Convex Mirror," 4 Sep. 2017 In that respect, painters held the mimetic advantage, and a lot of nineteenth-century painting, from Turner and Constable through the Impressionists, tries to capture the momentary and the evanescent, the sense of life suspended in motion. — Louis Menand, The New Yorker, "The Majesty of Early Photography," 24 Jan. 2017 The natural world and the mimetic urge?) is part and parcel of a deeper aesthetic. — Leah Hager Cohen, New York Times, "Insects Falling on Books, and Other Tales of Unsettling Trespasses," 9 June 2017 His visual descriptions are mimetic—as if the reader’s eye on the page followed a painter’s brush, the falcon reeling and refracted in sunlight painted by Tintoretto, in falling darkness by Rouault. — Cynthia Zarin, The New Yorker, "Time Out: The Beauty of J. A. Baker’s “The Peregrine”," 14 Apr. 2017 The aesthetic identity of the game can be elaborated by collecting fragments or mimetic images. — Bruce Sterling, WIRED, "Dead Media Beat: Federico Giordano, “Almost the Same Game”," 21 Apr. 2011 Instead, pornography trains us to redirect sexual desire as mimetic desire. — Maureen O’connor, The Cut, "Pornhub Is the Kinsey Report of Our Time," 11 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mimetic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Time Traveler for mimetic

The first known use of mimetic was in 1637

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More Definitions for mimetic

mimetic

adjective

mi·met·ic | \mə-ˈmet-ik,

\

Medical Definition of mimetic

: simulating the action or effect of —usually used in combination sympathomimetic drugs adrenocorticomimetic activity

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