Definitions for virus
ˈvaɪ rəsvirus

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 4 votes

1. virusnoun

   (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

2. virusnoun

   a harmful or corrupting agency

   "bigotry is a virus that must not be allowed to spread"; "the virus of jealousy is latent in everyone"

3. virus, computer virusnoun

   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"

GCIDERate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. Virusnoun

   (Computers) a program or segment of program code that may make copies of itself (replicate), attach itself to other programs, and perform unwanted actions within a computer; also called computer virus or virus program. Such programs are almost always introduced into a computer without the knowledge or assent of its owner, and are often malicious, causing destructive actions such as erasing data on disk, but sometime only annoying, causing peculiar objects to appear on the display. The form of sociopathic mental disease that causes a programmer to write such a program has not yet been given a name. Compare trojan horse.

2. Virusnoun

   any of numerous submicroscopic complex organic objects which have genetic material and may be considered as living organisms but have no proper cell membrane, and thus cannot by themselves perform metabolic processes, requiring entry into a host cell in order to multiply. The simplest viruses have no lipid envelope and may be considered as complex aggregates of molecules, sometimes only a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a coat protein. They are sometimes viewed as being on the borderline between living and nonliving objects. They are smaller than living cells in size, usually between 20 and 300 nm; thus they pass through standard filters, and were previously referred to as filterable virus. The manifestations of disease caused by multiplication of viruses in cells may be due to destruction of the cells caused by subversion of the cellular metabolic processes by the virus, or by synthesis of a virus-specific toxin. Viruses may infect animals, plants, or microorganisms; those infecting bacteria are also called bacteriophages. Certain bacteriophages may be non-destructive and benign in the host; -- see bacteriophage.

WiktionaryRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. virusnoun

   Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.

2. virusnoun

   A submicroscopic infectious organism, now understood to be a non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat. It requires a living cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism.

3. virusnoun

   A computer virus.

4. Etymology: From virus. First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Virus

   A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 9,000 virus species have been described in detail of the millions of types of viruses in the environment. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology. When infected, a host cell is often forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus. When not inside an infected cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent particles, or virions, consisting of (i) the genetic material, i.e., long molecules of DNA or RNA that encode the structure of the proteins by which the virus acts; (ii) a protein coat, the capsid, which surrounds and protects the genetic material; and in some cases (iii) an outside envelope of lipids. The shapes of these virus particles range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. Most virus species have virions too small to be seen with an optical microscope and are one-hundredth the size of most bacteria. The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity in a way analogous to sexual reproduction. Viruses are considered by some biologists to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, although they lack the key characteristics, such as cell structure, that are generally considered necessary criteria for defining life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life", and as replicators.Viruses spread in many ways. One transmission pathway is through disease-bearing organisms known as vectors: for example, viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; and viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. Many viruses, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, chickenpox, smallpox, and measles, spread in the air by coughing and sneezing. Norovirus and rotavirus, common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the faecal–oral route, passed by hand-to-mouth contact or in food or water. The infectious dose of norovirus required to produce infection in humans is fewer than 100 particles. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected blood. The variety of host cells that a virus can infect is called its "host range". This can be narrow, meaning a virus is capable of infecting few species, or broad, meaning it is capable of infecting many.Viral infections in animals provoke an immune response that usually eliminates the infecting virus. Immune responses can also be produced by vaccines, which confer an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. Some viruses, including those that cause HIV/AIDS, HPV infection, and viral hepatitis, evade these immune responses and result in chronic infections. Several classes of antiviral drugs have been developed.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Virusverb

   contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of snakes, etc.; -- applied to organic poisons

2. Virusverb

   the special contagion, inappreciable to the senses and acting in exceedingly minute quantities, by which a disease is introduced into the organism and maintained there

3. Virusverb

   fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions; something that poisons the mind or the soul; as, the virus of obscene books

4. Etymology: [L., a slimy liquid, a poisonous liquid, poison, stench; akin to Gr. poison, Skr. visha. Cf. Wizen, v. i.]

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Virus

   A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants, and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, about 5,000 viruses have been described in detail, although there are millions of different types. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a sub-speciality of microbiology. Virus particles consist of two or three parts: i the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; ii a protein coat that protects these genes; and in some cases iii an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell. The shapes of viruses range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. The average virus is about one one-hundredth the size of the average bacterium. Most viruses are too small to be seen directly with an optical microscope.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Virus

   vī′rus, n. contagious or poisonous matter (as of ulcers, &c.): the poison which causes infection: any foul, hurtful matter.—adjs. Vī′rose, Vī′rous; Virūlif′erous, bearing a specific virus. [L.; cog. with Gr. ios, Sans. visha, poison.]

The New Hacker's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. virus

   [from the obvious analogy with biological viruses, via SF] A cracker program that searches out other programs and ‘infects’ them by embedding a copy of itself in them, so that they become Trojan horses. When these programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too, thus propagating the ‘infection’. This normally happens invisibly to the user. Unlike a worm, a virus cannot infect other computers without assistance. It is propagated by vectors such as humans trading programs with their friends (see SEX). The virus may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program to run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently for a while, it starts doing things like writing cute messages on the terminal or playing strange tricks with the display (some viruses include nice display hacks). Many nasty viruses, written by particularly perversely minded crackers, do irreversible damage, like nuking all the user's files.In the 1990s, viruses became a serious problem, especially among Windows users; the lack of security on these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even infecting the operating system (Unix machines, by contrast, are immune to such attacks). The production of special anti-virus software has become an industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of near hysteria among users; many lusers tend to blame everything that doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense of virus has passed not only into techspeak but into also popular usage (where it is often incorrectly used to denote a worm or even a Trojan horse). See phage; compare back door; see also Unix conspiracy.

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. virus

   Song lyrics by virus -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by virus on the Lyrics.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. VIRUS

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Virus is ranked #153769 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Virus surname appeared 106 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Virus.
   
   95.2% or 101 total occurrences were White.

Matched Categories

1. • Agency
   • Infectious Agent
   • Malevolent Program
   • Microorganism

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'virus' in Nouns Frequency: #1846

How to pronounce virus?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say virus in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of virus in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of virus in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of virus in a Sentence

1. Salvador Panelo:

   The lifting of travel restrictions for Taiwan has been agreed by the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force by reason of the strict measures (against the virus) they are undertaking.

2. John Whyte:

   Too much alcohol can also contribute to difficulties in fighting infection, diabetes, heart disease, kidney and liver problems, respiratory diseases, and even severe obesity can make it much harder to recover if you contract the virus.

3. French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn:

   This is the first fatality by the coronavirus outside Asia, the first death in Europe, we have to get our health system ready to face a possible pandemic propagation of the virus, and therefore the spreading of the virus across France.

4. Wafaa El-Sadr:

   We are in a race with the virus, we need everyone who's eligible for the vaccines to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

5. Biden TransitionBiden:

   I am not going to shut down the economy, period. I'm going to shut down the virus. That's what I'm going to shut down, no national shutdown, because every region, every area, every community can be different. And so there's no circumstance which I can see that would require total national shutdown.

Popularity rank by frequency of use