Meaning & Definition of Virus in English

1. (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. 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. 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"