viral

From virus + -al.

• enPR: vī′rəl, IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪɹəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪɹəl

viral (not comparable)

1. (virology) Of or relating to a biological virus.

   viral DNA

2. (virology) Caused by a virus.

   viral infection

3. (computing) Of the nature of an informatic virus; able to spread copies of itself to other computers.
4. (advertising and marketing) Spread by word of mouth with minimal intervention, in order to create buzz and interest.
   • 2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 85:

     “Efficient way to disseminate information? I don't think.”
     “But it is,” Cayce insists. “The model's viral. ‘Deep niche.’ The venues would be carefully selected—”

   • 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 November 2019:

     Still, the movie [Ralph Breaks the Internet] manages to locate some gentle satire in our culture's love-hate relationship with the internet. At one point, Ralph must attain a certain level of viral popularity, assisted by the BuzzFeed-esque content guru Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), and the movie is savvy about how accidental spikes in fame can turn into cynical algorithm manipulation.

5. (social media) Circulated rapidly and widely from one user to another.
   • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 135:

     With some minutes to kill, he checks the headlines on his phone. Yet again, something dreadful and new which he doesn't understand is going viral. Today's fad is, you paint a black vertical rectangle on the wall, or on a mirror, or over the top of a picture. And then you chant something.

   • 2021 March 24, Charlie Warzel, quoting Anil Dash, “What Are You Paying for When You Buy a GIF for $25,000?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The end game of that is the GoFundMe link posted beneath a viral tweet so they can pay for their health care. Being an influencer sounds fun until it’s ‘keep producing viral content to literally stay alive.’

• virous (dated)

viral (plural virals)

1. (marketing) A video, image or text spread by "word of mouth" on the internet or by e-mail for humorous, political or marketing purposes.
   • 2002, Nik Lever, Flash Mx Games: ActionScript for Artists, Focal Press, page 411,

     Using the Flash ActiveX control in this way allows you as a developer to create desktop characters, email virals and screensavers.

   • 2003, Dave Chaffey, Total E-Mail Marketing, Elsevier, page 2,

     [M]ost virals are not seen as profiling and data collection exercises, since that would kill the impulse of forwarding to a friend.

   • 2005, Russell Evans, Practical DV Filmmaking, Focal Press, page 289,

     Music company virals are becoming commonplace as costs of promos force labels to reconsider how to target more directly to consumers.

• Avril, arvil, rival

• IPA^(key): (Central) [biˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [viˈɾal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virals)

1. viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)

   Synonym: víric

2. viral (caused by a virus)

   Synonym: víric

3. viral (spread by word of mouth)

• viralitzar

• virus

• “viral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “viral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “viral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

From virus +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʁal/

viral (feminine virale, masculine plural viraux, feminine plural virales)

1. viral (clarification of this definition is needed)

• charge virale

• → Romanian: viral
• → Turkish: viral

• “viral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• avril, livra, rival

• IPA^(key): /viˈʁaːl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

viral (strong nominative masculine singular viraler, not comparable)

1. viral

• antiviral

From English viral.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈviral/ [ˈfi.ral]
• Rhymes: -iral
• Syllabification: vi‧ral

viral (comparative lebih viral, superlative paling viral)

1. viral:
   1. (computing, virology) of or relating to virus; caused by a virus
   2. (advertising, marketing, social media) circulated rapidly and widely from one user to another

• (social media): tular (Standard Malay)

• “viral”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

From vír(us) +‎ -al.^[1][2] Piecewise doublet of virusal.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: vi‧ral

viral m or f (plural virais)

1. (microbiology) viral (relating to viruses)
2. (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
3. (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity through word of mouth)

• vírus
• virusal

• “viral”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French viral. By surface analysis, vir[us] +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /viˈral/

viral m or n (feminine singular virală, masculine plural virali, feminine/neuter plural virale)

1. (biology) viral (relating to viruses)
2. (medicine, of a disease) viral (caused by a virus)
3. (Internet) viral (quickly attaining high popularity)

• (relating to viruses, caused by a virus): virotic

• virus

From virus +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /biˈɾal/ [biˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: vi‧ral

viral m or f (masculine and feminine plural virales)

1. viral (of or relating to a biologic virus)

   Synonym: vírico

2. viral (caused by a virus)

   Synonym: vírico

3. viral (spread by word of mouth)

• “viral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from French viral.

• IPA^(key): /viˈɾɑl/
• Hyphenation: vi‧ral

viral

1. viral