SIMULACRUM \sim-yuh-LAK-rum\ noun
1 : image, representation
*2 : an insubstantial form or semblance of something : trace
Example sentence:
The magazine is still in publication, but, since the change in ownership, it is but a simulacrum of its former self.
Did you know?
It's not a figment of your imagination; there is a similarity between "simulacrum" and "simulate." Both of those English words derive from "simulare," a Latin verb meaning "to copy, represent, or feign." In its earliest English uses, "simulacrum" named something that provided an image or representation (as, for instance, a portrait, marble statue, or wax figure representing a person). Perhaps because a simulacrum, no matter how skillfully done, is not the real thing, the word gained an extended sense emphasizing the superficiality or insubstantiality of a thing.
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