This is the 13864th most frequent Spanish word.
simular
To imitate or pretend.
In this sentence, 'simular' is used to mean 'to pretend' or 'to feign' understanding, indicating an attempt to present oneself as grasping the material when this might not be the case.
El estudiante trató de simular que entendía la lección completa.
The student tried to pretend that they understood the entire lesson.
Here, 'simular' means 'to simulate' or 'to model', referring to the act of creating a representation or imitation of real-world scenarios for analysis.
Los ingenieros desarrollaron un software para simular el comportamiento del puente bajo presión.
The engineers developed software to simulate the behavior of the bridge under pressure.
In this usage, 'simular' again means 'to pretend', specifically showcasing an effort to display a feeling externally that may not match internal sentiment.