Word.ws English Dictionary

copyism

copyism noun: a style based on slavish imitation, without character or originality.

Noun

copyism (countable and uncountable, plural copyisms)

  1. (archaic) A style based on slavish imitation, without character or originality.
    • There is no genial infusion of the principles of design, no appeal to the imagination, no initiation into art as such, but only a dry, hard copyism of model drawings, line by line, and shade by shade.1854, Putnam's Monthly, volume 4, page 201
  2. (archaic) plagiarism
    • Now, in charging an author, more particularly a poet, with copyism, the resemblance ought surely to be at least as marked as in the foregoing extract.1820, The Christian Observer, volume 18, page 227

Forms of copyism

pluralcopyisms

Origin of copyism

From copy + -ism.

Questions about copyism

What does copyism mean?
Copyism means a style based on slavish imitation, without character or originality.
What part of speech is copyism?
Copyism is a noun.
What is the plural of copyism?
The plural of copyism is copyisms.

Words near copyism in the dictionary

  1. copying down
  2. copying paper
  3. copying press
  4. copying presses
  5. copyings
  6. copyism
  7. copyisms
  8. copyist
  9. copyists
  10. copyleft
  11. copyleft symbol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: copyism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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