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# virus

«virus» in Mova's school dictionary: **a tiny germ, much too small to see, that gets inside…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a virus, viruses)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A virus is a tiny germ, much too small to see, that gets inside living cells and can make people, animals or plants ill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#m1)

2) A computer virus is a harmful program that spreads between computers and damages them or steals information. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science and health, viruses cause colds, flu, chickenpox and measles; they spread by coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, so washing hands and covering sneezes helps. Antibiotics do not kill viruses; vaccines can protect against some of them. In computing and online safety, do not open strange links or attachments, because they may carry a computer virus; antivirus software protects computers.

### examples

- A cold is caused by a virus. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x1)
- Wash your hands to stop viruses spreading. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x2)
- The flu vaccine protects you from the flu virus. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x3)
- Viruses are much smaller than bacteria. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x4)
- Antibiotics don't work against viruses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x5)
- The email had a virus, so Dad deleted it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x6)
- The virus spread quickly through the class. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/#x7)

### note

Plural «viruses» (not «virii» or «viri»). A virus is not the same as bacteria: bacteria are living cells and some can be treated with antibiotics; viruses cannot. «Viral» = caused by a virus, or (online) spreading fast. Both «virus» and «germ» are used; germ is a general word.

### In the corpora

- [Antibiotics kill bacteria but do nothing against colds, which are caused by viruses.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/20-the-doctor-and-the-chemist/20/)
- [Warts on people are caused by a virus that passes between people, not by toads; the bumps on a toad are glands.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/89-amphibian-room-poison-frogs-axolotls-frog-rescue/15/)
- [Most viruses are much smaller than bacteria and too small to be seen with an ordinary light microscope.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/258-the-microscopic-world-viruses-and-vaccines/7/)
- [A computer virus is named after real viruses because it copies itself by getting into a host, a program instead of a cell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/258-the-microscopic-world-viruses-and-vaccines/16/)
- [About 8 percent of human DNA is made of bits of old viruses that got into our ancestors long ago.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/258-the-microscopic-world-viruses-and-vaccines/17/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «virus» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/virus/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.