Word.ws English Dictionary

simulacrum

Syllables: sim·u·la·crum/ˌsɪmjʊˈleɪkɹəm/US/ˌsɪmjəˈleɪkɹəm/

simulacrum noun: a physical image or representation of a deity, person, or thing.

Noun

simulacrum (plural simulacra or simulacrums)

  1. A physical image or representation of a deity, person, or thing.
    • a simulacrum of a New York studio apartment
    • [H]e crossed the haunted Almo, renowned of yore for its healing virtues, and whose stream the far-famed simulacrum, the image of Cybele,) which fell from heaven, was wont to be laved with every coming spring; […]1833, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Visionary and His Daughter—An Englishman, such as Foreigners Imagine the English”, in Godolphin. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry...
  2. 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.
    • One Life; a little gleam of Time between two Eternities; no second chance to us forevermore! It were well for us to live not as fools and simulacra, but as wise and realities.1840 May 19, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture V. The Hero as Man of Letters. Johnson, Rousseau, Burns.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840...
    • He is become a mere enchanted simulacrum of a Duke; bewitched under worse than Thessalian spells; without faculty of willing, except as she wills; his People and he the plaything of this Circe or Hecate, that has got hold of him.1858, Thomas Carlyle, “Journey Homewards from the Reich; Catastrophe on Journey Homewards”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall...
    Synonyms:
    simulant, simulation

simulacrum meaning in Urdu, Bengali and Arabic

simulacrum in Urdu

نمود ناک, صورت خیالی

simulacrum in Bengali

ছবি, প্রতিরূপ, খোলস

simulacrum in Arabic

physical image or representation of a deity, person, or thing
محاكاة

Examples of simulacrum in a sentence

  • [Y]ou find you have nothing—nothing but a coat and wig and a mask smiling below it—nothing but a great simulacrum.1861 November, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “George the Fourth”, in The Four Georges: Sketches of Manners, Morals, Court, and Town...
  • Certainly a vehicle that seemed to have no inside at all—that appeared to be the mere simulacrum of a vehicle—could not very well contain the two.1877, William Black, “Culture”, in Green Pastures and Piccadilly. […], volume III, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 86:
  • The future is more overpriced Pabsts at dive-bar simulacrums.2018, Ling Ma, chapter 1, in Severance, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 13:

All 10 example sentences with simulacrum

Synonyms of simulacrum

Forms of simulacrum

pluralsimulacra
pluralsimulacrums

Plural of simulacrum: simulacra or simulacrums

Origin of simulacrum

Learned borrowing from Latin simulācrum (“image, likeness”), from simul(ā) + -crum (a variant of -culum, from Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, a suffix forming instrument nouns), from similis (“similar (to)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; together”).

Questions about simulacrum

What does simulacrum mean?
Simulacrum means a physical image or representation of a deity, person, or thing.
What is simulacrum in Urdu?
Simulacrum in Urdu is نمود ناک, صورت خیالی. See Simulacrum meaning in Urdu.
How do you use simulacrum in a sentence?
[Y]ou find you have nothing—nothing but a coat and wig and a mask smiling below it—nothing but a great simulacrum.
What part of speech is simulacrum?
Simulacrum is a noun.
How do you pronounce simulacrum?
Simulacrum is pronounced /ˌsɪmjʊˈleɪkɹəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of simulacrum?
The plural of simulacrum is simulacra.

Words near simulacrum in the dictionary

  1. simulachres
  2. simulacra
  3. simulacral
  4. simulacre
  5. simulacres
  6. simulacrum
  7. simulacrums
  8. simuland
  9. simulands
  10. simulant
  11. simulants

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: simulacrum (page history and authors); simulacrum (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simulacrum (Bengali Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-simulacrum.wav.

Cite this entry: “simulacrum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/simulacrum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.