simulacrum
3 synonyms for simulacrum, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A tangible image or likeness of a god, person, or object.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
A tangible image or likeness of a god, person, or object.
“a simulacrum of a New York studio apartment”
2. noun
A thing which has the appearance or form of another thing, but not its true qualities; a thing which simulates another thing; an imitation; a semblance.
“The future just wants more consumers. The future is more newly arrived college grads and tourists in some fruitless search for authenticity. The future is more overpriced Pabsts at dive-bar simulacrums.”
Etymology
A learned borrowing from Latin simulācrum, meaning "image, likeness", formed from simul(ā) and -crum (a variant of -culum, from Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, a suffix forming instrument nouns). This in turn comes from similis, "similar (to)", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, meaning "one; together".
Full origin of simulacrum →