Word of the Day

: December 19, 2008

simulacrum

noun sim-yuh-LAK-rum

What It Means

1 : image, representation

2 : an insubstantial form or semblance of something : trace

simulacrum in Context

The magazine is still in publication, but, since the change in ownership, it is but a simulacrum of its former self.

Did You Know?

It's not a figment of your imagination; there is a similarity between "simulacrum" and "simulate." Both of those English words derive from "simulare," a Latin verb meaning "to copy, represent, or feign." In its earliest English uses, "simulacrum" named something that provided an image or representation (as, for instance, a portrait, marble statue, or wax figure representing a person). Perhaps because a simulacrum, no matter how skillfully done, is not the real thing, the word gained an extended sense emphasizing the superficiality or insubstantiality of a thing.