copycat

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Translations 1.4 Adjective 1.5 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• copy cat

[edit] Etymology

From copy + cat (“‘person’”). It has been in use since at least 1896, in Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs.

[edit] Noun

copycat (plural copycats)

1. (informal) One who imitates others' work without adding ingenuity.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Adjective

copycat (comparative more copycat, superlative most copycat)

1. Imitative; unoriginal.

[edit] Verb

to copycat (third-person singular simple present copycats, present participle copycatting, simple past and past participle copycatted)

1. To act as a copycat; to copy in a shameless or derivative way
   • 2007 September 3, Janet Maslin, “His Girl Friday Meets a Sadistically Chic Serial Killer”^[1], New York Times:

     In a genre that is rife with copycatting, Ms. Cain deserves some credit for having gotten a potentially interesting new series off the ground.