1
as in reproducing
to make an exact likeness of
for the movie, set designers copied the Oval Office in the White House down to the smallest detail
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2
as in imitating
to use (someone or something) as the model for one's speech, mannerisms, or behavior
she shamelessly copies her idol's hairstyle and fashion choices
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Recent Examples of copying
Ready to join me in copying this exact outfit?
—
Averi Baudler, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Luckily for him, Alex’s struggle to find the ship’s wheel gives Rizo the opportunity to start copying his competitor’s puzzle.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
An evil twin hotspot is a wireless network that impersonates a legitimate one by copying its name, also known as the SSID.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Cardi told The Breakfast Club that their beef started when BIA accused Cardi of copying her style.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 19 Sep. 2025
Third-party imitation involves observing interactions between two individuals then faithfully copying those interactions.
—Grrlscientist, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Others shared their own stories of toddlers copying adults in everyday settings.
—Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
Mutations are copying errors that occur naturally during the replication process.
—Deborah Fuller, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025
In another study, students using AI to revise their essays scored higher than those revising without AI, often by simply copying and pasting sentences from ChatGPT.
—Brian W. Stone, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2025
Averi Baudler, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Luckily for him, Alex’s struggle to find the ship’s wheel gives Rizo the opportunity to start copying his competitor’s puzzle.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
An evil twin hotspot is a wireless network that impersonates a legitimate one by copying its name, also known as the SSID.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2025
Cardi told The Breakfast Club that their beef started when BIA accused Cardi of copying her style.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 19 Sep. 2025
Third-party imitation involves observing interactions between two individuals then faithfully copying those interactions.
—Grrlscientist, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Others shared their own stories of toddlers copying adults in everyday settings.
—Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
Mutations are copying errors that occur naturally during the replication process.
—Deborah Fuller, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025
In another study, students using AI to revise their essays scored higher than those revising without AI, often by simply copying and pasting sentences from ChatGPT.
—Brian W. Stone, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for copying
Verb
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The costs of reproducing living labor varied in response to struggle.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Sep. 2025
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Without people in the loop, AI risks reproducing the inherent problems that it is meant to avoid, including discrimination, institutional incompetence and overall distrust.—
Gangesh Pathak,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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To achieve the characteristic soap-nails effect, the color should be applied in thin layers and have a glossy finish, imitating the transparency and freshness of a wet bar of soap.—
Irene Reyes,
Glamour,
23 Sep. 2025
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The cartoonist Mort Walker’s The Lexicon of Comicana—which began as an exhibition half a century ago at the Museum of Cartoon Art—offers a textbook case of life imitating art.—
Cullen Murphy,
Air Mail,
20 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In early January 2025, the Bureau of Land Management website explained the communities are in an area that climate change is rendering uninhabitable, mentioning climate eight times.—
Dinah Voyles Pulver,
USA Today,
24 Sep. 2025
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Miu Miu leaned into tradition, rendering argyle in a restrained palette that nodded to its country club roots.—
Minty Mellon,
Vogue,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The shooter also posted content emulating the Columbine High School shooters, who killed 14 people in 1999.—
Deon J. Hampton,
NBC news,
15 Sep. 2025
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When Donovan achieves national attention, Cartman gets a haircut — emulating Kirk — and starts his own debate channel in an effort to win the Charlie Kirk Award for Young Masterdebaters.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The fake blood trapped between the layers bursts out at the incision point, replicating in gruesome detail the sensation of real bleeding.—
Mack DeGeurin,
Popular Science,
25 Sep. 2025
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Advertisement For James, becoming Whitney was about more than replicating her voice and cadence, though that was a key part of her preparation.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Lloyd Webber is ever fond of repeating his melodies, and the emotional effect comes from placing them in different registers and layering timbres on top of one another.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
30 Sep. 2025
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Both pieces featured a repeating monogram pattern.—
Renan Botelho,
Footwear News,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Bidirectional edges connected the robots to each other, because each robot had to know what other robots were doing at each time step to avoid collisions or duplicating tasks.—
Jacek Krywko,
ArsTechnica,
25 Sep. 2025
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The remaining one-third involves SG&A costs, split between restructuring sales and marketing operations and duplicating corporate functions such as finance, HR, and legal.—
Joe Cornell,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Copying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/copying. Accessed 3 Oct. 2025.
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