Simulacrum

In occult writings, the word simulacrum designates some object meant to represent a whole for magical purposes. ❋ Carole Nelson Douglas (2009)

It must be understood that the term simulacrum is defined as "a material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing," as "something having merely the form or appearance of a certain thing, without possessing its substance or proper qualities," as "a mere image, a specious imitation or likeness, of something" (OED). ❋ Unknown (2008)

Replicating a simulacrum is the scincerest form of flattery. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Such a substitution by the Power Elites/State partnership of symbolic prosperity for broad-based, real prosperity is what I term a simulacrum of prosperity in my analysis. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Not sure I really belive that, but you don't see the word simulacrum enough these days. ❋ Ann Althouse (2009)

Kelly: One of the things I will take away from having read Atmospheric Disturbances is the word simulacrum, a word that Leo often uses to describe the facsimile of his wife Rema that is a lot like her and yet not at all her as far as Leo is concerned. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Baudrillard predicts that in postmodern society the distinction between original products and commodities and their copies weakens, while an interim form called the simulacrum, which is neither original nor copy, becomes dominant. ❋ Unknown (2010)

BTW -- your earlier post made me look up the word "simulacrum"--- your posts are always so educational! ❋ Marina Geigert (2009)

"We had Mechanix International construct us that foolproof android simulacrum, which is filling in for me while I--" ❋ H-M Brown (2010)

Recall the simulacrum upon the surface that is no more. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Transit derives from a sense of the simultaneity of the present, where we are suspended in a state of temporariness and indeterminacy, and move “from the same to the same”; the simulacrum is the result of an endless mimesis in which there are only copies of copies without reference to an original; and ritual without myth is the repetition of patterns of action having no connection to the inner life of a subject or of society. ❋ Aylesworth, Gary (2005)

Have you ever felt that the place where you lived or grew up was being turned into a 'simulacrum' of itself? ❋ Unknown (2009)

It is this 'in between' missing from the words where all that goes on in a life — the blood, the guts, the sinews, the tears, and the silences — these interstices that this "simulacrum" chooses to honor. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The posturing of the Washington Republicans since Obama was elected proves correct the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard when he outlined his understanding of "simulacrum" in advanced capitalist societies where ideologies and images are copies of copies without originals. ❋ Unknown (2009)

I think the best word I've ever managed to slot into a song is "simulacrum" in a folky Bob-Dylan-esque number. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Yes, I tend to choose the rarer of words in my written work, often because I enjoy the sound of things like 'simulacrum' or 'ennui'. ❋ Truckeratlas (2004)