virulent
adjUK /ˈvɪɹ(j)ʊl(ə)nt/ · US /ˈvɪɹ(j)ələnt/
Etymology
PIE word *wisós From Middle English virulent (“leaking or seeping pus, purulent; (of putrefaction) extremely severe (sense uncertain)”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin vīrulentus (“poisonous”), from vīrus (“poison; venom; slime, slimy liquid; stinking smell; nasty taste”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“poison; slime; fluidity”)) + -ulentus (suffix meaning ‘abounding in, full of’, forming adjectives). Sense 4 (“of a pathogen: replicating within its host cell, then immediately causing it to undergo lysis”) is derived from French virulent, which was first used in this sense by the French biologist François Jacob (1920–2013) and his co-authors in a 1953 article.
Of animals, plants, or substances: extremely venomous or poisonous.
Figuratively Extremely hostile or malicious; intensely acrimonious.
- The politicians were virulent in their hatred of the president.
- More venemous and much more virulent / Then any poyſoned tode, or any ſerpent.c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
2 more examples
- It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.1963, Margery Allingham, “The Well House”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 105:
- They were targeted by a virulent strain of nativism toward those from Southern and Eastern Europe that was largely about race.2025 December 15, Greg Sargent, Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State, The New Republic:
Medicine, Sciences Of a disease or disease-causing agent: malignant, able to cause damage to the host.
Biology, Microbiology, Natural sciences Of a pathogen: replicating within its host cell, then immediately causing it to undergo lysis.
- Derived terms
- avirulent, cardiovirulent, enterovirulent, hepatovirulent, hypervirulent, hypovirulent, neurovirulent, nonvirulent, supervirulent, urovirulent, virulently, virulentness
- Related terms
- virulence, virulency, virus, pathogenic