emulate vs mimic

emulate

verb
  • To copy or imitate, especially a person. 

  • of a program or device: to imitate another program or device 

mimic

verb
  • To imitate, especially in order to ridicule. 

  • To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage. 

adj
  • Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry. 

  • Pertaining to mimicry; imitative. 

  • Mock, pretended. 

noun
  • An imitation. 

  • A comic who does impressions. 

  • An entity that mimics another entity, such as a disease that resembles another disease in its signs and symptoms; see the great imitator. 

  • A mime. 

How often have the words emulate and mimic occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )