in silico
/ɪn ˈsɪlɪkoʊ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.03 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep_phrase
In computer simulation or in virtual reality.
Example Sentences
- "He was able to dissect the frog in silico."
- "In the future, computers can be used as experimental tools, generating a new source of investigation of living organisms, their study in silico (in contrast to in vivo or in vitro)."
- "The term "virtual screening" (or in silico screening) was first reported in the scientific literature in 1997[…]; it can be defined as a set of computer methods that analyzes large databases or collections of compounds in order to identify and prioritize likely hit candidates[…]. In silico screening search can be performed on libraries that contain physically existing compounds or on virtual libraries, and thus on compounds that are not yet synthesized. […] [I]t should be noted that in silico screening goes much beyond number crunching, it helps to generate ideas, to reduce the cost and to gain knowledge."
- "There is an increasing number of in silico models for toxicological endpoints. Some of these models offer significant benefits over existing in vivo or in vitro models. First, they require no materials and will make a prediction from the chemical structure alone. Once the models are built, they are usually fast and cheap to run. […]"
Etymology
Pseudo-Latinism, derived from in and silicon (from Latin silex (“flint, pebble, stone; crag, rock”)) + Latin -ō, by analogy with English in vitro (“in glass, referring to an experiment conducted in a test tube”). The silico component refers to silicon chips which were used for computing at the time when the term was coined.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪn ˈsɪlɪkoʊ/
- British English: /ɪn ˈsɪlɪkəʊ/