emulate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aemulātus (“rivalled”), the past participle of aemulor (“to rival, strive to equal or excel”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from aemulus (“striving to equal, rivalling”).^[7][8][6][9] Barnhart and Etymonline allow that the verb may instead be a back-formation from the older noun emulation (1552),^[9][3][2] which came from French émulation and directly from Latin aemulātiō (“rivalry, competition”).^[3] Klein, Hoad and Barnhart relate aemulus to imitor (“to copy, imitate”) and imāgō (“likeness, image”), the sources of imitate and image.^[6][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strive to equal or excel: Merriam-Webster and Barnhart's Concise Dictionary date it to 1582,^[4][10] the full Barnhart to 1589,^[9] and the OED's first quotation is from William Warner's Albions England (1586).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb first described people trying to match or outdo a person or a quality, often by copying them.^[2][4] From 1602, in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, it was also used of things that rival or come close to something in some quality,^[2][11] since 1807 it can also imply some success, "to rival, attain equality with".^[2] Two early senses died out in the 17th century: an intransitive "to strive ambitiously to do or obtain" (1597–1657) and "to envy, bear a grudge against" (1611–54), which echo the older senses of emulation as jealous rivalry.^[2] Shakespeare's adjective emulate, ambitious or emulous, in Hamlet (1604), did not survive.^[2][4][11] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as "to rival" and "to imitate with hope of equality, or superiour excellence".^[12] In computing, from 1965, a machine or program that emulates another reproduces its behaviour so that it can run the same programs.^[2][13][7]

Timeline

• 1582 – to strive to equal or excel.^[4][10]
• 1586 – first OED quotation, in Warner's Albions England.^[2]
• 1597 – intransitive, to strive ambitiously to do something (obsolete by 1657).^[2]
• 1602 – of things, to vie with or rival in some quality.^[2]
• 1604 – adjective emulate, ambitious, emulous, in Hamlet (obsolete).^[2][4]
• 1611 – to envy, bear a grudge against (obsolete by 1654).^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: to rival; to imitate in the hope of equalling.^[12]
• 1807 – to rival successfully, approach equality with.^[2]
• 1965 – computing: to reproduce the behaviour of another computer or system.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To try to equal or surpass someone or something, especially by imitating them: The young chef hoped to emulate her mentor's success.^{[13][4][7][2]}
2. To rival or match; to come close to equality with.^[13][7][2]
3. (computing) To reproduce the functions of another computer or system by means of hardware or software, so that it can run the same programs and use the same data.^[13][7][2]

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Emulous, ambitious.^[4][2][11]

Word family

• emulative
• emulatively
• emulator
• emulation

Related words

• emulous
• imitate
• image

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins