A replica of something is a close — sometimes exact — likeness. The "Mona Lisa" that you bought at the department store is not the original but a replica of da Vinci's masterpiece. Sorry, but you can always take it back.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, a replica is pure adulation. Someone creating a replica is creating an imitation of the original. The word first appeared in 17th-century Italy, taking its meaning from the word replicare, "to reply or repeat," as used in music. In time, it came to mean a copy, often of a work of art. In a stricter sense, the word refers to a copy created or supervised by the artist of the original work.
