spitting image
15
3.7
- idiom
- /ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/
- Informal
- "To tell the truth," Golchin said, "your brother was the spitting image of your father, down to his haircuts."
- spitting image of your father
- spitting image of her mother
- spitting image of your wife
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Watch on YouTubeSo as I told, and I tell my dear, dear brother Brian, who's the spitting image of my dad, they're both giants.
- So as I told, and I tell my dear, dear brother Brian, who's the spitting image of my dad, they're both giants.
Examples
-
A fine boy, and just like you, the spitting image.
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You're the spitting image of your grandma.
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You are the spitting image of her.
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Lily is the spitting image of her mother.
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I mean, you're the spitting image of your mom.
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Billy's the spitting image of him.
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She's the spitting image of her mother, isn't she?
-
Gordon is the spitting image of the long-lost Fester.
Fiction book (1991) -
Everyone says you are the spitting image of him at our age—everybody, that is, who ever notices either of you.
Fiction book (1993) -
You are the spitting image of her.
Synonyms
80
3.6
A close copy of something real, often a famous object or work of art
59
5.6
A person who is very like another in look or actions
31
3.8
A person who looks or acts very like another person
21
3.9
A person who is very similar in appearance to another person, often a famous person
20
3.3
An image that shows left and right switched as in a mirror
15
7.8
A person who looks almost exactly like someone else but is not related
9
7.4
A person who looks exactly like someone else
7
3.5
A person or thing that looks very similar to another, often a famous person
1
9.8
A person or thing that looks almost the same as another
Antonyms
How Similar
- Informal
15
3.7
- Informal
9
7.4
68
4.7
1
3.8
102
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
spitting + image
While 'image' suggests likeness, 'spitting' (related to 'spit') has no clear sense of 'exactness' or resemblance, so the meaning 'an exact likeness' cannot be compositionally derived from the parts. This is an idiomatic, language-specific collocation rather than a transparent combination, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words would likely not predict its meaning.
Etymology
Spitting image may come from an old saying 'the spit and image', where spit meant a small part of a person and image meant a copy of them. So spitting image means 'looks exactly like' someone today.