mime
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements only.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mymIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmaɪm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements only
“The acting students mimed eating an apple.”
To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.
To mimic.
noun
A performance using gestures and body movements without words
A form of acting without words; pantomime.
An actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression
A pantomime actor.
A person who mimics others in a comical manner.
A classical theatrical entertainment in the form of farce.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Act out without words but with gestures and bodily movements only
Used this way, mime is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The acting students mimed eating an apple.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use mime
- “The street performer was a mime who entertained the crowd silently.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.