| / English Dictionary |
VIRUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(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
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("virus" is a kind of...):
micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)
infectious agent; infective agent (an agent capable of producing infection)
Domain category:
virology (the branch of medical science that studies viruses and viral diseases)
Domain member category:
virion ((virology) a complete viral particle; nucleic acid and capsid (and a lipid envelope in some viruses))
atrophic arthritis; rheumatism; rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint)
inoculant; inoculum (a substance (a virus or toxin or immune serum) that is introduced into the body to produce or increase immunity to a particular disease)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "virus"):
arborvirus; arbovirus (a large heterogeneous group of RNA viruses divisible into groups on the basis of the virions; they have been recovered from arthropods, bats, and rodents; most are borne by arthropods; they are linked by the epidemiologic concept of transmission between vertebrate hosts by arthropod vectors (mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies, midges, etc.) that feed on blood; they can cause mild fevers, hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, and encephalitis)
bacteriophage; phage (a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria)
plant virus (a plant pathogen that is a virus consisting of a single strand of RNA)
animal virus (an animal pathogen that is a virus)
slow virus (a virus that remains dormant in the body for a long time before symptoms appear)
tumor virus (a cell-free filtrate held to be a virus responsible for a specific neoplasm)
vector ((genetics) a virus or other agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell)
Derivation:
viral (relating to or caused by a virus)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer
Example:
a true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("virus" is a kind of...):
malevolent program (a computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A harmful or corrupting agency
Example:
the virus of jealousy is latent in everyone
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("virus" is a kind of...):
agency; delegacy; representation (the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent)
Context examples:
A tumor-targeted therapy consisting of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that are exposed ex vivo to dendritic cells (DCs) transfected with a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) encoding a specific tumor associated antigen (TAA) gene.
(AAV-DC-CTL Tumor Cell Targeting Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)
A disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
(Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, NCI Dictionary)
A syndrome resulting from the acquired deficiency of cellular immunity caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
(Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)
Methisazone inhibits the synthesis of structural viral proteins and interrupts full assembly of mature virus.
(Methisazone, NCI Thesaurus)
Autologous dendritic cells (DCs) transduced with the replication-deficient adenoviral vector Ad5F53 encoding the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) transmembrane latent membrane proteins 1 and 2 (LMP1/LMP2) with potential immunostimulatory activity.
(Ad5F35-LMP1/LMP2-Transduced Autologous Dendritic Cells, NCI Thesaurus)
The most common is viral meningitis, which you get when a virus enters the body through the nose or mouth and travels to the brain.
(Meningitis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
It may also be caused by infection with a bacterium, virus, or fungus.
(Meningeal syndrome, NCI Dictionary)
The virus is generally monomorphic and has been developed as a gene therapy vector for the treatment of numerous diseases.
(Adeno-Associated Virus Type 2, NCI Thesaurus)
A mother's exposure to viruses or toxic chemicals while pregnant may play a part.
(Mental Disorders, NIH)
An RGD-4C-modified, infectivity-enhanced, bicistronic type 5 adenovirus expressing herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene, a therapeutic suicide gene, and the somatostatin receptor type 2 (SSTR2) gene with potential antineoplastic activity.
(Ad5.SSTR/TK.RGD, NCI Thesaurus)
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