mimesis means the representation of aspects of the real world, especially human actions, in literature and art. It carries an Arena rating of 1815, earned across 54 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mimesis ranks #149 of 42,752 for Qualifying, #965 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,224 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,496 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
mimesis is pronounced /mɪˈmiːsɪs/.
Why “mimesis” is a great word
The artistic imitation or representation of reality, particularly of human behavior. From Ancient Greek μίμησις (mī́mēsis, "imitation"), from μιμεῖσθαι (mimeîsthai, "to imitate"), from μῖμος (mîmos, "imitator, actor, mime"). Unlike diegesis (which narrates and tells, keeping the audience at the distance of summary) or simulation (which models systems and processes as artificial reproductions), mimesis is the direct, embodied act of showing. It is the actor's body becoming Hamlet, the painter's hand rendering the exact slump of light on a pear, the novelist's prose so precisely tuned that we forget the page and inhabit another consciousness entirely—a reminder that all art begins in the body's attempt to step outside itself and become the world it beholds.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μῑ́μησις (mī́mēsis), from μιμεῖσθαι (mimeîsthai, “to imitate”), from μῖμος (mîmos, “a mime”). By surface analysis, mime + -esis.
noun
- The representation of aspects of the real world, especially human actions, in literature and art.
- Mimicry.
- The appearance of symptoms of a disease not actually present.
- The rhetorical pedagogy of imitation.
- The imitation of another's gestures, pronunciation, or utterance.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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