simulacrum
2
9.9
- noun
- /ˌsɪmjuˈleɪkrəm/
- Formal
:
simulacro
- The tourist attraction was a simulacrum of an ancient village, complete with replicas of traditional houses.
- a false simulacrum
- a parody and simulacrum
- the logic of the simulacrum
Examples
-
Now he could immerse himself in a simulacrum of life.
Fiction book (1997) -
Over time, the simulacrum becomes a mask hiding any reality it stands for.
Academic text (1997) -
This is only the simulacrum of life.
-
Life turns into a simulacrum of life, into the loss of life.
Academic text (2003) -
I ask, opening my eyes as wide as possible in my best simulacrum of Republican excitement.
Blog text (24) -
These are the last moments of this simulacrum of cordial agreement.
-
The IMF, it is clear, is only a simulacrum of a LOLR.
Academic text (1999) -
Acquiring info bites from Wikipedia is a shallow simulacrum of learning, not learning itself.
Blog text (31) -
There is the striking sense that the entire monument announces its status as a phantasm or simulacrum.
Academic text (2002) -
And in so doing, the simulacrum serves to subsume the very notions of totality.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
34
3.5
A thing made to look like something real to trick people
27
4.1
A picture or statue made to show how a person looked
Something that looks like another thing but is not the same inside
A machine made to act like a real person
A person or thing that looks almost the same as another
How Lifelike
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word simulacrum comes from the Latin root simul meaning 'like', the same root as similar, so a helpful way to remember it is that a simulacrum 'looks like' the real thing but is often only a shallow or weak copy rather than the true thing.