Definition of "imitation" []

• The act or an instance of imitating. (noun)
• Something derived or copied from an original. (noun)
• Music Repetition of a phrase or melody often with variations in key, rhythm, and voice. (noun)
• Music Repetition of a theme in another voice such that each part continues polyphonously. (noun)
• Made to resemble another, usually superior material: imitation fur. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If the imitation is exact, the term _strict imitation_ is applied, but if only approximate, then the term _free imitation_ is used in referring to it."
• "Fuseli and Coleridge falsely apply the term imitation, making "a distinction between imitation and copying, representing the first as the legitimate function of art -- the latter as its corruption.""
• "Officers found a 13-year-old boy holding two air soft pistols, which they described as imitation firearms."