emulate

[ verb em-yuh-leyt; adjective em-yuh-lit ]
/ verb ˈɛm yəˌleɪt; adjective ˈɛm yə lɪt /

verb (used with object), em·u·lat·ed, em·u·lat·ing.

to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass: to emulate one's father as a concert violinist.
to rival with some degree of success: Some smaller cities now emulate the major capitals in their cultural offerings.
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

Obsolete. emulous.

Origin of emulate

1580–90; < Latin aemulātus, past participle of aemulārī to rival. See emulous, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM emulate

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH emulate

emulate immolate

Example sentences from the Web for emulator

British Dictionary definitions for emulator

emulate
/ (ˈɛmjʊˌleɪt) /

verb (tr)

to attempt to equal or surpass, esp by imitation
to rival or compete with
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

Derived forms of emulate

emulative, adjective emulatively, adverb emulator, noun

Word Origin for emulate

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