simulacrum

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin simulācrum (“image, likeness”).

noun

1. An image or representation.
   a simulacrum of a New York studio apartment
   Like the full-scale map in Borges’s short story “On Exactitude in Science,” the representation takes on the dimensions of reality to the point of replacing it. The French theorist Jean Baudrillard uses Borges’s story as a metaphor for his notion of the simulacrum, which probably explains why Caden, who has trouble naming things, considers titling his production “Simulacrum.” 2008-10-23, Manohla Dargis, “Dreamer, Live in the Here and Now”, in New York Times
   The future just wants more consumers. The future is more newly arrived college grads and tourists in some fruitless search for authenticity. The future is more overpriced Pabsts at dive-bar simulacrums. 2018, Ling Ma, chapter 1, in Severance
   We shouldn’t have to dodge traffic on an eight-lane road just to get to a simulacrum of an inclusive urban place. The problem is not too much Disneyland thinking—it’s not enough. 2018-09-18, Amanda Kolson Hurley, “Fake Public Squares Are Coming to the Suburbs”, in The Atlantic
2. A faint trace or semblance.
   a simulacrum of hope