virus

Plural: vira, viri, virii, viruses, virusses

Noun

• (virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein
• a harmful or corrupting agency
  • "bigotry is a virus that must not be allowed to spread"
  • "the virus of jealousy is latent in everyone"
• a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer
  • "a true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance"
• A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
• A species thereof.
• A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
• An individual particle thereof: synonym of virion.
• A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
• A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
• A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
• Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
• A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
• Any type of malware.
• Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.
• pl. -ES any of a class of submicroscopic pathogens

Verb

• To send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.

Examples

• "He's got a virus and had to stay home from school."
• "I'm just going to virus anyone who tries cheating on this game."
• "Not much virus was detectable on a nucleic acid test; the viral load was very low."
• "Some viruses, such as norovirus, cause sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis."
• "Under electron microscopy, a few viruses were seen floating near the cells."

Synonyms

computer virus, virus

Related Words

prion