copycat 1 of 2

as in imitator
a person who adopts the appearance or behavior of another especially in an obvious way every rock singer who makes it big soon has a whole cluster of copycats

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copycat

2 of 2

verb

1
2
as in to imitate
to use (someone or something) as the model for one's speech, mannerisms, or behavior a performer who slavishly copycats another never rises to the level of true stardom

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of copycat
Noun
Magistrates will be under pressure to hand down tough sentences to deter copycats. Lionel Laurent, Twin Cities, 24 Oct. 2025 Plath, too, said they could be connected, or copycats who have observed the effectiveness of other heists. Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
North Korea famously hacked the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in an attempt to steal its COVID-19 vaccine technology, and Chinese exfiltrations of U.S. defense industrial base research has led to copycat technological advances in aircraft and missile development. Jacquelyn Schneider, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2021 Park mentioned the case of the Boston Marathon Bomber, in which social media led to misidentification of suspects, and possibly to copycat cases. Michael M. Dewitt, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2021 See All Example Sentences for copycat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for copycat
Noun
  • This quickly became the world's best-selling pen and was soon followed by many imitators that sold in the billions.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 29 Oct. 2025
  • These are people who are in the know, many of whom actually thought of him as kind of a loser, as kind of an imitator.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Our city should copy the pay parking system used in Santa Barbara, which even has a phone app that enables you to conveniently add time remotely to your car’s parking meter instead of having to trudge back to your car.
    U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Nov. 2025
  • But tension from within the sheriff’s office boiled over and reached the public in November 2024, when then-Chief Deputy Kevin Canty resigned, sent McFadden a harsh resignation letter and copied the entire sheriff’s office to the email.
    Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 7 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Art imitating life a little bit.
    Senior Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
  • That work led to the Multisensory Correlation Detector (MCD), which could imitate human responses to simple audiovisual patterns like flashes and clicks.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Cissé, who was not a member of the military, sometimes posted images of herself in military fatigues to her more than 140,00 TikTok followers, which is thought to have drawn attention from the armed men.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Since the government shutdown delayed funding for SNAP in November, Curry has been sharing strategies on how to find free or affordable food with his social media followers.
    NPR, NPR, 11 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • The company reportedly responded by banning users from using its product to replicate South Park content.
    James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 11 Nov. 2025
  • While GPT-4o was a critical factor in the advent of spiralism, the faithful are hardly limited to this model, and have had success replicating elements of this nebulous framework with competitors including Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • At a distance, emulating the success of household names can feel like a herculean task.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2025
  • A lot of creatives emulate things, and that’s cool in the beginning.
    Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 6 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Ditto the echoes of The Civil War, also examining a battle that pit brother against brother, and The Vietnam War, in which America became the occupying imperial force failing to understand or successfully combat a domestic insurgence.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Their lead guitarist — a wiry seventeen-year-old named Bruce Springsteen — already had an assistant to hit his echo pedal on cue.
    Henry Selick, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • In an exchange reproduced on screen, a fan asked Stause about her rift with Hernan.
    Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The nonstick surface that develops over years of use is invaluable, and not easy to reproduce.
    Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Copycat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/copycat. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.

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