virus meaning and definition

VIRUS noun

Definition of virus (noun)

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"
   • synonyms: computer virus