virus

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) 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).
2. (countable, uncountable) 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).
3. (countable, uncountable) 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).
4. (uncountable) A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
5. (countable, informal, metonymically, uncountable) A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
6. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
7. (countable, uncountable) 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.
8. (countable, proscribed, uncountable) Any type of malware.
9. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.

Verb

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

Synonyms

germ

computer virus

bacteria

poison

venom

bacillus

bug

🐛

bacterium

toxin

microbe

🦠

pathogens

pest

harm

bane

contagion

contamination

germs

arsenic

injury

miasma

microorganism

mischief

Translations

virus

Virus

virus

virus

virus

virus

ιός

vírus

virüs

Computervirus

virus informatique

vírus de computador

فيروس

ιοί

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvaɪɹəs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: virus

In summary

From Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.

Sentences

The virus can survive in the soil for at least six months .