mirror image

noun

1

a

: something that has its parts reversely arranged in comparison with another similar thing or that is reversed with reference to an intervening axis or plane

b

: the direct opposite

2

: image sense 4

Synonyms

• alter ego
• carbon
• carbon copy
• clone
• counterpart
• doppelgänger
• doppelganger
• double
• duplicate
• duplication
• facsimile
• fetch
• image
• likeness
• look-alike
• match
• picture
• replica
• ringer
• spit
• spitting image
• twin

Examples of mirror image in a Sentence

The left side of the building is a mirror image of the right.

looking at the idealistic intern, the elderly physician could not help but see the mirror image of himself 40 years earlier

Recent Examples on the Web

Following Florida’s 4-1 dispatch of rival Tampa Bay in the first round and seven games to end Toronto’s season, the East finals presents its own dynamic, because the Panthers and Hurricanes are mirror images in terms of defense-first mindsets. —Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 21 May 2025

Now jump ahead to last year, when the right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson provided a mirror image of Yeltsin’s supermarket visit, only this time the supermarket was in Moscow. —Eric Jason Martin Tanya Pérez Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025

Crane’s conclusion from the statistical oddity was that the left-handed aren’t mirror images of majority. —John Tamny, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025

The back end of his career wasn’t exactly a mirror image of the front end. —Jayson Stark, The Athletic, 16 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for mirror image

• scrimmage

Kids Definition

mirror image

noun

: something that has its parts joined together in much the same way as those of something else except that each part of one thing is directly opposite to the corresponding part of the other thing and located on the opposite side of, the same distance away from, and facing in the same way toward or away from an axis or plane between the two things

the two sides of an animal with bilateral symmetry are mirror images of each other

Medical Definition

mirror image

noun

: something that has its parts reversely arranged in comparison with another similar thing or that is reversed with reference to an intervening axis or plane