in silico

prep_phrase

Etymology: 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.

1. In computer simulation or in virtual reality.

   “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).”