emulate

[em-yuh-leyt, em-yuh-lit]

verb (used with object)

emulated, emulating 

1. to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass.

   to emulate one's father as a concert violinist.

   Synonyms: copy, follow

2. to rival with some degree of success.

   Some smaller cities now emulate the major capitals in their cultural offerings.

3. Computers.

   1. to imitate (a particular computer system) by using a software system, often including a microprogram or another computer that enables it to do the same work, run the same programs, etc., as the first.

   2. to replace (software) with hardware to perform the same task.

adjective

1. Obsolete.,  emulous.

emulate

/ ˈɛmjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to attempt to equal or surpass, esp by imitation

2. to rival or compete with

3. to make one computer behave like (another different type of computer) so that the imitating system can operate on the same data and execute the same programs as the imitated system

Other Word Forms

• emulative adjective
• emulatively adverb
• emulator noun
• nonemulative adjective
• overemulate verb (used with object)
• unemulative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of emulate¹

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin aemulātus, past participle of aemulārī “to rival”; emulous, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of emulate¹

C16: from Latin aemulārī, from aemulus competing with; probably related to imitārī to _imitate

Example Sentences

Now, Liverpool stands as the model that these teams hope to emulate—even if it took Liverpool a decade to figure it out.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In recent years, South East Asian countries have launched recruitment drives for naturalised players, hoping to emulate Indonesia's strategy of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

Read more on BBC

With Donald looking to emulate Jacklin as the only captain to win home and away matches and cement his place alongside Europe's greats, he opted not to include any rookies in his six selections.

Read more on BBC

It was about responding in the moment to Raymond’s voice, body language and rhythm, without trying to emulate or echo anything I had experienced before.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Arguably the most dramatic event of Friday was the men's triple jump, in which Portugal's Pedro Pichardo emulated the gold he won at the Tokyo Olympics in phenomenal style.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• follow suit 
• imitate 
• mimic 
• mirror