Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
IMITATION
I. noun
Date: 14th century
an act or instance of imitating, something produced as a copy ; counterfeit , a literary work designed to reproduce the style of another author, the repetition by one voice of a melody, phrase, or motive stated earlier in the composition by a different voice, the quality of an object in possessing some of the nature or attributes of a transcendent idea, the assumption of behavior observed in other individuals,
II. adjective
Date: 1818
resembling something else that is usually genuine and of better quality ; not real