Virus ˈvaɪrəs Office Software Computer Noun Bre Flu

• the flu virus
• a virus infection
• there's a virus going around the office.
• the virus in the software was programmed to corrupt the hard disk.

virus

1. a living thing, too small to be seen without a microscope, that causes infectious disease in people, animals and plants
• the flu virus
• a virus infection
2. a disease caused by a virus
• There's a virus going around the office.
3. instructions that are hidden within a computer program and are designed to cause faults or destroy data
• The virus in the software was programmed to corrupt the hard disk.

Extra Examples

• An infected person can pass the virus to others.
• The virus attacks a variety of cells in the body.
• The virus attacks cells in the body.
• to write computer viruses
• A teenage boy was arrested for being the creator of the BomBlast virus that caused severe disruption to the country’s defence systems.
• Most viruses can only spread if you open an email attachment.
• My computer has caught some kind of virus, and it won’t let me log on to the Internet.
• The latest virus will attach itself to all the addresses in your email address book.
• There’s a virus going around the office.
• Your virus definitions are not up to date.
• anti-virus software

Word Origin

• late Middle English (denoting the venom of a snake): from Latin, literally ‘slimy liquid, poison’. The earlier medical sense, superseded by the current use as a result of improved scientific understanding, was ‘a substance produced in the body as the result of disease, especially one capable of infecting others’.