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Feign vs Mimic - What's the difference?

feign | mimic |

As verbs the difference between feign and mimic

is that feign is to make a false copy or version of; to counterfeit while mimic is to imitate, especially in order to ridicule.

As a noun mimic is

a person who practices mimicry, or mime.

As an adjective mimic is

pertaining to mimicry; imitative.

feign

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To make a false copy or version of; to counterfeit.
  • The pupil feigned sickness on the day of his exam.
    They feigned her signature on the cheque.
  • To imagine; to invent; to pretend.
  • He feigned that he had gone home at the appointed time.
  • To make an action as if doing one thing, but actually doing another, for example to trick an opponent.
  • * 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Rickie Lambert's debut goal gives England victory over Scotland'' (in ''The Guardian , 14 August 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/14/england-scotland-international-friendly]
  • Cahill was beaten far too easily for Miller's goal, although the striker deserves the credit for the way he controlled Alan Hutton's right-wing delivery, with his back to goal, feigned to his left then went the other way and pinged a splendid left-foot shot into Hart's bottom right-hand corner.
  • To hide or conceal.
  • Jessica feigned the fact that she had not done her homework.

    Synonyms

    * (represent by a false appearance) front, put on airs

    mimic

    English

    Alternative forms

    * mimick

    Verb

  • To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • (biology) To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who practices mimicry, or mime.
  • An imitation.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.
  • *, II.12:
  • I think every man is cloied and wearied, with seeing so many apish and mimicke trickes, that juglers teach their Dogges, as the dances, where they misse not one cadence of the sounds or notes they heare.
  • * Milton
  • Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes / To imitate her.
  • * Wordsworth
  • Mimic hootings.
  • Mock, pretended.
  • (mineralogy) Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.