emulate

English

Alternative forms

• æmulate (archaic)

Etymology

First attested in 1586; borrowed from Latin aemulātus, perfect active participle of Latin aemulor (“to rival, emulate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.jʊ.leɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.jə.leɪt/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈem.jə.læɪt/
• Hyphenation: em‧u‧late

Verb

emulate (third-person singular simple present emulates, present participle emulating, simple past and past participle emulated)

1. (now rare) To attempt to equal or be the same as.
2. To copy or imitate, especially a person.

   People are endlessly fascinating, even if you'd never want to emulate them.

   • 2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎:

     The Magpies are unbeaten and enjoying their best run since 1994, although few would have thought the class of 2011 would come close to emulating their ancestors.

3. (obsolete) To feel a rivalry with; to be jealous of, to envy.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 146:

     But the councell then present emulating my successe, would not thinke it fit to spare me fortie men to be hazzarded in those unknowne regions [...].

4. (computing) of a program or device: to imitate another program or device

Derived terms

• emulatable
• emulatory
• unemulated

Related terms

• emulation
• emulative
• emulator
• emulous
• simulate

Translations

to attempt to equal or be the same as

Chinese: Mandarin: 效仿 (zh) (xiàofǎng) Finnish: emuloida (fi) French: émuler (fr) Portuguese: emular (pt) Swedish: söka efterlikna

to copy or imitate, especially a person

Catalan: emular (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 模仿 (zh) (mófǎng) Dutch: imiteren (nl), nadoen (nl) Finnish: jäljitellä (fi), matkia (fi) French: émuler (fr), imiter (fr) German: nachahmen (de) Latin: aemulor Manx: eiyr er Occitan: emular Portuguese: emular (pt) Romanian: emula, imita (ro) Spanish: emular (es) Swedish: efterlikna (sv) Turkish: öykünmek (tr) Welsh: efelychu (cy)

to feel a rivalry with; to be jealous of, to envy

French: émuler (fr) Irish: Old Irish: étaigidir Turkish: çekememek (tr), kıskanmak (tr)

in computing of a program or device: to imitate another program or device

Bulgarian: емули́рам impf or pf (emulíram) Catalan: emular (ca) Finnish: emuloida (fi) German: emulieren (de) Malay: melagak Romanian: emula Spanish: emular (es) Swedish: emulera (sv) Turkish: öykünmek (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: подражавам (bg) (podražavam), имитирам (bg) (imitiram), копирам (bg) (kopiram) French: copier (fr), simuler (fr) Indonesian: meniru, menirukan, membeo, memimik Turkish: taklit etmek (tr), öykünmek (tr), kopya etmek (tr)

Adjective

emulate (comparative more emulate, superlative most emulate)

1. (obsolete) Striving to excel, ambitious, emulous.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], pages 152-153, column 1:

     That can I,
     At leaſt the whiſper goes ſo : Our laſt King,
     Whoſe Image euen but novv appear'd to vs,
     VVas (as you know) by Fortinbras of Norvvay,
     (Thereto prick’d on by a moſt emulate Pride)
     Dar’d to the Combate.

See also

• copy
• imitate
• mimic

Anagrams

• metulae

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

emulate

1. inflection of emulare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

emulate f pl

1. feminine plural of emulato

Anagrams

• metalue

Spanish

Verb

emulate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of emular combined with te