vi•rus

(ˈvaɪ rəs)

n., pl. -rus•es.

1. an ultramicroscopic (20 to 300 nm in diameter), metabolically inert, infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals: composed of an RNA or DNA core, a protein coat, and, in more complex types, a surrounding envelope.

2. a disease caused by a virus.

3. a corrupting influence on morals or the intellect; poison.

4. a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network.

[1590–1600; < Latin vīrus slime, poison; akin to ooze²]

vi′rus•like`, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

computer virus - 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"

virus

malevolent program - a computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects

Translations

فيروس كمبيوتر

virus

számítógépes vírus

computervirus

вирус компьютерный вирус

počítačový vírus

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Computers system that display the following signs could be infected with a computer virus:

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Holland, Associated Press writer, "Computer Virus Hits Fed Agencies" (May 11, 2000).

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A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that spreads by attaching itself to executable files or system areas on diskettes.

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Here are several precautions you can take to prevent computer virus attacks, but they all boil down to one thing: Isolate your machine.

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There are also some other computer virus models [19-21] combined with network theory to investigate the impact of the network topology, the patch forwarding, and the network eigenvalue on the viral prevalence.

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