simulant

noun, adj — 2 senses

simulant

noun

/ˈsɪmjʊlənt/

Etymology From simulate + -ant.

1

Something that simulates something else such as a gemstone.

  • Due to its low cost and close visual likeness to diamond, cubic zirconia has remained the most gemologically and economically important diamond simulant since 1976.
  • He could invent a fictional restaurant for you to bite your burger at but any fictional restaurant would be, like Nomenex, a worthless simulant or inconcinne imitation, a placebic generic.2012, Joshua Cohen, Four New Messages:
1 more example
  • The soil sample, called LZS-1, is the latest in a list of lunar regolith simulants of varying quality that have been developed to help Nasa and other space agencies around the world prepare for missions to the Moon.2023 April 25, Dhananjay Khadilkar, “Why scientists are making fake Moon dust”, in BBC:

simulant

adj

Etymology From simulate + -ant.

1

Biology, Natural sciences Simulating, replacing, or having the form or appearance of something else.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.