virus

CEFRB1

/ˈvaɪ.ɹəs/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A tiny agent that causes disease in people, animals, or plants.

  2. 02

    noun

    A harmful computer program that copies itself.

Examples

  • Scientists are fighting to stem the spread of the AIDS virus.

  • That looks like the work of a virus.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

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

  2. 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. A species thereof.

More examples

In context

  • The virus can cause illness in humans.

  • Some viruses, such as norovirus, cause sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis.

  • Under electron microscopy, a few viruses were seen floating near the cells.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The patient's fever and cough were caused by a blank, not a vaccine.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.