imitating

present participle of imitate
1
as in emulating
to use (someone or something) as the model for one's speech, mannerisms, or behavior teenage musicians who imitate whichever rock stars are hot

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 imitating Rather than simply imitating the brain with silicon chips, the approach uses actual neurons to perform computational work. — Mike McRae 19, New Atlas, 20 Oct. 2026 OpenAI denied intentionally imitating Johansson’s voice and later withdrew the feature. — ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026 Speaking of the oversized, the collection’s Handloom Cardigan fits the bill but spares you from imitating a balloon, courtesy of those vertical stripes (also known as the oldest optical trick in the fashion book). — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026 Her makeup could not be prettier or more ideal for imitating, with its barely-there shimmer shadow, the softest possible wing, and gloss in what appears to be her natural lip color. — Marci Robin, Allure, 27 Sep. 2026 The league immediately decided Juszczyk was imitating drinking beer. — Armando Salguero Outkick, FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2026 In a case of life imitating art, the real-life age gap between actors Reinhart and Bateman is pretty close to that of Olive and Adam. — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 25 Sep. 2026 Rather than taking advantage of genuine quantum effects, Scholes proposes, life might be imitating them instead. — Elise Cutts, Quanta Magazine, 23 Sep. 2026 One year later, Clooney, 65, is back at the Venice Film Festival for a spin in the spotlight on the opening night for a bit of life imitating art. — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imitating
Verb
  • But what begins as emulating her mother’s favorite role-playing game turns fantastical, as the RPG itself bleeds into the real world, channeling Hattie’s grief and forcing her to rely on her father once more.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Nov. 2026
  • The model spotted a bald cap and bushy facial hair while emulating a 72-year-old A-list star.
    — Lara Walsh, InStyle, 2 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • The latter went from working on Star Trek properties (Next Gen, Voyager, Enterprise) to parodying them with MacFarlane on The Orville.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The White House announced Arcade on social media with a series of animations parodying Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo loading screens.
    — Lou Kesten, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Scammers are getting better at copying familiar stores and creating convincing messages.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2026
  • That's technology enabling us to create something that captures the emotional connection of an earlier era without simply copying it.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 25 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The novel was also partly epistolary, including segments of fictional court transcripts and news coverage created by King (who enjoyed mimicking different writing styles).
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Germany and the United States surpassed the United Kingdom economically, not simply by mimicking it but by taking its innovations further.
    — NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Meanwhile, Vision decrypts a mocking email exchange between Ultron and Paladin, who’s angry his unbreakable contract was broken.
    — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 28 Oct. 2026
  • As proof of how much of a joke this has become for people is that a sketch mocking their drama was part of the October 10 episode of Saturday Night Live UK.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 21 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Turning chemical signals into digital instructions Recreating smell presents a different challenge from reproducing images or sound.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The likelier explanation, Seth said, is that the models have absorbed a great deal of information about how humans describe and respond to pain and are reproducing it.
    — Shae Lake, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • If the idea of doing surgery on a raw turkey gives you a stress rash, ask your butcher to do it—even at the supermarket.
    — Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Even while every utopia contains the seeds of its opposite, so too does any dystopia provide, even briefly or contingently, intimations of a different way of doing things.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • Experiments replicating hypersonic stress records phase changes in real time.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 4 Nov. 2026
  • As crises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea become more linked amid an expanding regional war, replicating the patchwork maritime strategy that never fully worked would be a serious mistake.
    — Dana Stroul, Foreign Affairs, 28 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Imitating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imitating. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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