Virulence
['vɪrjʊləns] or ['vɪrjələns]
Definition
(noun.) extreme hostility; 'the virulence of the malicious old man'.
(noun.) extreme harmfulness (as the capacity of a microorganism to cause disease); 'the virulence of the plague'.
Checker: Michelle--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Alt. of Virulency
Checked by Keith
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Poisonousness, venomousness.[2]. Acrimony, malignancy, malignity, bitterness.
Checker: Tessie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Venom, poison, acrimony, malignity, malignancy, bitterness, malevolence
ANT:Mildness, salubriousness, assuagement, abatement, virtue, benevolence
Checker: Marge
Examples
- Towards the end of October it dwindled away, and was in some degree replaced by a typhus, of hardly less virulence. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- America had also received the taint; and, were it yellow fever or plague, the epidemic was gifted with a virulence before unfelt. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- What wonder, that this year, when as we are told, its virulence is unexampled in Asia, that it should have occasioned double havoc in that city? Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- On the contrary, the disease gained virulence, while starvation did its accustomed work. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Pasteur was racked with fears alternating w ith hopes, his anxiety growing more intense as the virulence of the inoculations increased. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Pasteur obtained in inoculations of graded virulence, which could be adm inistered hypodermically, a means of prophylaxis after bites. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
Typed by Leona