mimicry

noun

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mim·ic·ry | \ ˈmi-mi-krē

plural mimicries

Definition of mimicry

1a : an instance of mimicking

b : the action, practice, or art of mimicking entertained his family with mimicry and comic skits— Cynthia Ozick

2 : a superficial (see superficial sense 2b) resemblance of one organism to another or to natural objects among which it lives that secures it a selective advantage (such as protection from predation)

Examples of mimicry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The pairing of actress and subject feels fated—Day, a recording artist, took her stage name from Holiday’s moniker, Lady Day—and her mimicry of Holiday’s plangent warble is convincing. — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, "Oscars Spotlight: The Unusually Wide-Open Actress Races," 15 Apr. 2021 If so, would that same mimicry occur with other adenoviruses? — Matthew Herper, STAT, "Why would a Covid vaccine cause rare blood clots? Researchers have found clues," 13 Apr. 2021 Holograms are performing concerts, with some using vocal mimicry software (the flipside of the voice tech used to identify emotional and health biomarkers). — Frank Fitzpatrick, Forbes, "Back To The Future: 3 Ways Entertainment Defines Tech And Wellness," 7 Apr. 2021 This mimicry of the human body by machines could be a saving grace, especially in the face of an inability to modulate human interventions on life more generally. — Jamieson Webster, The New York Review of Books, "On Breathing," 2 Apr. 2021 That these scenes are surprisingly effective is due in large part to the work of Kaluuya, who manages to nail his character’s rhythms and intonations while transcending mere mimicry. — Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner, "Black Jesus," 1 Apr. 2021 According to a statement, the fraudulent flowers’ mimicry goes beyond the obvious physical resemblance. — Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, "This Fungus Makes Convincing Fake Flowers From Scratch," 19 Feb. 2021 In the more distant future programmable matter applications might move beyond mere shape mimicry to involve programmable optical, electric or acoustic properties. — John Matson, Scientific American, "Shifty Science: Programmable Matter Takes Shape with Self-Folding Origami Sheets," 28 June 2010 Additional work would confirm whether mimicry is actually occurring. — Doris Elín Urrutia, Scientific American, "Pilot Whales Show Possible Orca-Mimicking Repertoire," 18 Feb. 2021

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