Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality of being virulent, or charged with virus.
  • noun Synonyms Poisonousness, venom, deadliness.
  • noun Asperity, Harshness. See acrimony.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being virulent or venomous; poisonousness; malignancy.
  • noun Extreme bitterness or malignity of disposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the state of being virulent
  • noun a measure of how virulent a thing is

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun extreme hostility
  • noun extreme harmfulness (as the capacity of a microorganism to cause disease)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Throughout the manuscript, the term virulence factor will be used in accordance with the definition proposed by Wood et al; "A component of a pathogen that when deleted specifically impairs virulence but not viability"

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Konstantin Kadzhaev et al. 2009

  • It is very noteworthy here that one must certainly not conclude that the loss of disease-causing activity for cattle necessarily means a decrease in virulence for other animals.

    Emil von Behring - Nobel Lecture 1967

  • What wonder, that this year, when as we are told, its virulence is unexampled in

    II.2 1826

  • This is the part that makes us sick that they call virulence in the article.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2009

  • This is the part that makes us sick that they call virulence in the article.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2009

  • Current tests have been conducted in a maximum bio-hazard facility, and the results indicate that this virus’s virulence is exactly as advertised, killing mice and monkeys in remarkably short periods.

    2007 January « Hyperpat’s HyperDay 2007

  • Current tests have been conducted in a maximum bio-hazard facility, and the results indicate that this virus’s virulence is exactly as advertised, killing mice and monkeys in remarkably short periods.

    A Plausible Nightmare « Hyperpat’s HyperDay 2007

  • The harshness with which a parasite treats its host—what biologists call virulence—contains a trade-off.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • The harshness with which a parasite treats its host—what biologists call virulence—contains a trade-off.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • The harshness with which a parasite treats its host—what biologists call virulence—contains a trade-off.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

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