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| Date: | 1500-1600 |
| Origin: | mimic 'copying' (16-21 centuries), from Latin mimicus, from Greek, from mimos; MIME1 |
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Related topics: Animalsmim‧ic1
past tense and past participle mimicked, present participle mimicking [transitive]
past tense and past participle mimicked, present participle mimicking [transitive]1 to copy the way someone speaks or behaves, especially in order to make people laugh [= imitate, take off]: 
He could mimic all the teachers' accents.'I'm so sorry,' she mimicked.
He could mimic all the teachers' accents.'I'm so sorry,' she mimicked.2 to behave or operate in exactly the same way as something or someone else : Europe should not try to mimic Japan: we have to find our own path to successful modernisation. The drug mimics the action of the body's own chemicals.
Europe should not try to mimic Japan: we have to find our own path to successful modernisation.The drug mimics the action of the body's own chemicals.3HBA if an animal mimics something, it looks or sounds very like it : a fly whose size and colour exactly mimics that of the wasp
a fly whose size and colour exactly mimics that of the wasp —mimicry noun [uncountable] He has a gift for mimicry.
He has a gift for mimicry.