simulation

[sim-yuh-ley-shuhn]

noun

1. imitation or enactment, as of something anticipated or in testing.

2. the act or process of pretending; feigning.

3. an assumption or imitation of a particular appearance or form; counterfeit; sham.

4. Psychiatry.,  a conscious attempt to feign some mental or physical disorder to escape punishment or to gain a desired objective.

5. the representation of the behavior or characteristics of one system through the use of another system, especially a computer program designed for the purpose.

Other Word Forms

• nonsimulation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of simulation¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English simulacion, from Latin simulātiōn- (stem of simulātiō ) “a pretense”; simulate, -ion

Example Sentences

The result: an interactive simulation that showed currents moving over a wing, with a slider allowing him to move the wing, change the currents and lift the plane into the air.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The scientists combined these experimental results with computer simulations of volcanic behavior.

Read more on Science Daily

Only 10 particles out of 540,000 reached another person, and simulations indicated the system removed up to 94 percent of airborne pathogens.

Read more on Science Daily

Using large-scale simulations on supercomputers, the team examined how heatwaves could evolve over the next 1,000 years once global emissions finally reach net zero.

Read more on Science Daily

A major challenge, however, is finding reliable methods to set up the initial quantum state that a simulation needs.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• reproduction