adj
Meaning 1
Imitative; unoriginal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- copycat crime
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
copycat
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /kɑpiˈkæt/
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CMU ARPABET: K AA1 P IY0 K AE2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
One who imitates or plagiarizes the work of others.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A criminal who imitates the crimes of another; specifically, a criminal who commits the same crime, especially a highly-publicized one, that has recently been committed by someone else.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a copycat strangler
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To act as a copycat; to copy in a shameless or derivative way.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
someone who copies the words or behavior of another
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: imitator, emulator, ape, aper
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
Narrower terms: epigone, epigon, parrot
History
Etymology
Originally American English, from copy + cat (“a former derogatory term for a person”).
Across languages
Translations
50 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Spanish: copión — Translations
- Spanish: copiota — Translations
- Arabic: مُقَلِّد (muqallid) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Bulgarian: имитатор (imitator) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Bulgarian: подражател (podražatel) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Central Bikol: arog-arog — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Chinese Mandarin: 抄襲狗 /抄袭狗 (chāoxí gǒu) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Chinese Mandarin: 山寨 (shānzhài) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Danish: kopist — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Dutch: na-aper — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Estonian: järeleahvija — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Estonian: plagiaator — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Finnish: matkija — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Finnish: jäljittelijä — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- French: copycat — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- French: imitateur — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- French: copieur — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- French: faussaire — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- German: Nachahmer — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- German: Nachäffer — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- German: Nachmacher — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- German: Imitator — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Indonesian: peniru — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Korean: 모방자 (mobangja) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Latvian: pakaļdarinātājs — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Macedonian: папага́л (papagál) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Macedonian: подра́жател (podrážatel) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Macedonian: имита́тор (imitátor) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Norwegian Bokmål: hermegås — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Polish: imitator — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Polish: naśladowca — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Portuguese: copião — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Portuguese: copiona — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Portuguese: imitador — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Portuguese: imitadora — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Russian: имита́тор (imitátor) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Russian: подража́тель (podražátelʹ) — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Serbo-Croatian: имѝта̄тор — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Serbo-Croatian: епигон — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Serbo-Croatian: imitator — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Serbo-Croatian: oponašatelj — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Serbo-Croatian: epigon — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Spanish: copión — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Spanish: copiona — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Spanish: copiota — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Swedish: efterapare — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Swedish: härmapa — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- Tagalog: gaya-gaya — one who imitates or plagiarizes others' work
- German: abklatschen — to copy in a derivative way
- German: abkupfern — to copy in a derivative way
Real reading context