phrasal verb · informal
go viral
UK/ɡəʊ ˈvaɪrəl/US/ɡoʊ ˈvaɪrəl/go VI·ral
speakingtask2
to spread very quickly and widely, especially online
Examples
“The short clip went viral overnight and everyone was talking about it.”
“Her tweet went viral and led to a debate about privacy.”
“If a post goes viral, it can attract millions of views in hours.”
Band 8 sentence
“The campaign went viral within a day, prompting policy-makers to respond publicly.”
Collocations
- go viral on social media
- go viral overnight
Word family
viral adjvirally adv
Common mistakes
be viral→go viral
get viral→go viral
Say it for a higher band
5be popular→6spread quickly→7+go viral
Synonyms
spread rapidly
become widely shared
Easily confused
viral (adj)
“The video was viral within hours.”
Related words
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