mimesis

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mimesis /mɪˈmiːsɪs, mʌɪ-/

▶noun

• 1 imitative representation of the real world in art and literature.

• 2 the deliberate imitation of the behaviour of one group of people by another as a factor in social change.

• 3 Zoology mimicry of another animal or plant.

– derivatives
mimetic adjective,
mimetically adverb.

– origin C16: from Gk mimēsis, from mimeisthai ‘to imitate’.