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Copycat vs Counterfeit - What's the difference?

copycat | counterfeit |

As nouns the difference between copycat and counterfeit

is that copycat is one who imitates others' work without adding ingenuity while counterfeit is a non-genuine article; a fake.

As adjectives the difference between copycat and counterfeit

is that copycat is imitative; unoriginal while counterfeit is false, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.

As verbs the difference between copycat and counterfeit

is that copycat is to act as a copycat; to copy in a shameless or derivative way while counterfeit is to falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of.

copycat

English

Alternative forms

* copy cat * copy-cat

Noun

(en noun)
  • (informal) One who imitates others' work without adding ingenuity.
  • A criminal who imitates the crimes of another.
    • a copycat strangler

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • ; unoriginal.
  • *
  • *
  • *

    • Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To act as a ; to copy in a shameless or derivative way
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=September 3, author=Janet Maslin, title=His Girl Friday Meets a Sadistically Chic Serial Killer, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=In a genre that is rife with copycatting , Ms. Cain deserves some credit for having gotten a potentially interesting new series off the ground. }}

    counterfeit

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • False, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.
    • This counterfeit watch looks like the real thing, but it broke a week after I bought it.
  • Inauthentic.
    • counterfeit sympathy
  • Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.
  • * Shakespeare
    • an arrant counterfeit rascal

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A non-genuine article; a fake.
  • *c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act II, scene 4:
    • Never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit .
  • * Macaulay
    • Some of these counterfeits are fabricated with such exquisite taste and skill, that it is the achievement of criticism to distinguish them from originals.
  • One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.
  • (obsolete) That which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.
  • * William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
    • Thou drawest a counterfeit / Best in all Athens.
  • * 1590 Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene Book III, canto VIII:
    • Even Nature's self envied the same, / And grudged to see the counterfeit should shame / The thing itself.
  • (obsolete) An impostor; a cheat.
  • * c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act V, scene 4
    • I fear thou art another counterfeit ; / And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of.
    • to counterfeit the signature of another, coins, notes, etc.
  • (obsolete) To produce a faithful copy of.
  • *
  • (obsolete) To feign; to mimic.
    • to counterfeit the voice of another person
  • * Oliver Goldsmith, The Village Schoolmaster
    • Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee / At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.
  • Of a turn or river card, to invalidate a player's hand by making a better hand on the board.