virtual

jargon, architecture (Via the technical term virtualmemory, probably from the term "virtual image" in optics)

1. Common alternative to logical; often used to refer to the

artificial objects (like addressable virtual memory larger

than physical memory) created by a computer system to help the

system control access to shared resources.

2. Simulated; performing the functions of something that isn't

really there. An imaginative child's doll may be a virtual

playmate.

Opposite of real or physical.

[Jargon File]

(1994-11-30)