English → Latin
“imitate” in Latin
imitorto represent, express, portray; to imitate, act like, copy after, seek to resemble, counterfeitexprimōto squeeze out; to press (out); to express; to imitate or copyeffingōto form, fashion; to represent, portray, express, depict; imitate, copy; to wipe out, wipe cleanaemulorto endeavour to equal or excel someone, rival, vie with; emulate; copy; to equal someone by emulating; to be envious or
The English word imitate itself goes back to Latin imitor, through imitātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
imitate
imitari (general term): imitando or imitatione exprimere: imitando effingere: imitando effingere et exprimere: imitari et exprimere; or, from context, exprimere or effingere only (to form anything in imitation of something else): assimulare aliquid (to make an imitation that may pass, without being detected as a counterfeit; e.g., hyaenae assimulant sermonem humanum): aemulari (to imitate from a spirit of emulation. ☞ Up to the time of Quintilian, it took the accusative in the sense of emulate, rival (without bad meaning), imitate; but in the bad sense of “rivalling,” “envying,” a dative [iis aemulamur, qui ea habent, quae nos habere cupimus, Cic.] once in Liv., cum aliquo, 28, 43): alicujus vestigia sequi or persequi: alicujus vestigiis insequi (to tread in anybody’s footsteps, to take him as a pattern): adumbrare (to imitate by a pictorial sketch with suitable, but not fully finished lights and shades, etc.; also, of the orator; Vid: Cic., De Or., 3, 4; Quint., 7, 10, 9). (The words are found in this connection and order.) imitari atque adumbrare: mentiri (i. e., to substitute a counterfeit, a lie for the truth; post-classical, mentiri juvenem, Martisalis; color, qui Chrysocollam mentitur, Plin.). To imitate anything successfully, aliquid imitando consequi: not to imitate anything, imitationem alicujus (rei) omittere (to give over imitating it): nullam alicujus rei significationem dare (not to show any signs of having imitated it; e.g., rerum Graecarum, Cic., De Or., 2, 36, 153). To inspire anybody with the desire of imitating it, imitandi cupiditate incitare aliquem. Imitated, imitatione expressus. ☞ Imitatus is, in a few instances, used passively for “imitated,” Cic., Tim., 5; Quint., 11, 3, 61; nec abest imitata voluptas, Ov., Met., 9, 481: Krebs rejects this usage, but Vid: Freund. Every letter and every erasure ware imitated, litterae lituraeque omnes assimulatae.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for imitate?
- The usual Latin words for “imitate” are imitor, exprimō, effingō; also aemulor. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.