mimesis

noun

mi·​me·​sis mə-ˈmē-səs 

mī-

: imitation, mimicry

Did you know?

Mimesis is a term with an undeniably classical pedigree. Originally a Greek word, it has been used in aesthetic or artistic theory to refer to the attempt to imitate or reproduce reality since Plato and Aristotle. Mimesis is derived from the Greek verb mimeisthai, which means "to imitate" and which itself comes from mimos, meaning "mime." The English word mime also descends from mimos, as do mimic and mimicry. And what about mimeograph, the name of the duplicating machine that preceded the photocopier? We can't be absolutely certain what the folks at the A. B. Dick Company had in mind when they came up with Mimeograph (a trademark name that has since expired), but influence from mimos and its descendants certainly seems probable.

Examples of mimesis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Its main concern is music and mimesis: to showcase Chalamet performing the Dylan songbook with a fidelity to the original beyond the vocal range of the lip-synching Larry Parks in The Jolson Story (1946) or Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). —Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025

There’s a sense of mimesis in the film with the hysterical fandom surrounding Dylan mirroring Chalamet’s heartthrob status in real life. —Lee Sharrock, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2025

Ever since George Wilson approached Daisy Buchanan with those coveralls on, that dirty rag in his hand, literature of the oil age has made petroleum into a mimesis of guilt and shame. —Hazlitt, 21 Aug. 2024

Except—and for me, the difference is crucial—Akhtar employed his creativity and imagination to shape these source materials into an utterly original work of art, whereas the rapidly disintegrating McNeal employs a chatbot, which shapes the material into an uncannily precise act of mimesis. —Ayad Akhtar, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024

Consider the mimesis involved: his appearance on VladTV, the hip-hop news site, in a button-down yellow shirt, sleeves rolled up, and a skinny navy rep tie. —Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 21 May 2024

Many works of hyperrealism call on old traditions of mimesis, among them anatomical wax models based on real carcasses, a technique dating to the 18th century. —Joshua Glass, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2023

In a strong bid for mimesis, the same cuts seemed to be happening to America, the country that, like my parents, both birthed and plagued me: the same unknowing, the same uncertainty, the same darkness descending on the horizon and creeping ever closer. —New York Times, 18 July 2022

Issue 2 is also an exercise in mimesis. —The Editors, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2021

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin, from Greek mimēsis, from mimeisthai

First Known Use

circa 1586, in the meaning defined above

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