noun · neutral
virus
UK/ˈvaɪ.rəs/US/ˈvaɪrəs/VI·rus
a malicious program that infects computers or devices to damage data or steal information
Examples
“The computer contracted a virus after downloading an unknown file.”
“Antivirus software can detect and remove many types of virus.”
“Many users lose data because they don't back up before the virus attacks.”
Band 8 sentence
“After the recent breach, the IT team found a sophisticated virus had been stealing credentials for months.”
Collocations
- computer virus
- contract/catch a virus
- remove/scan for viruses
Word family
Common mistakes
Many virus infected my computer.→Many viruses infected my computer.
My computer was infected by virus.→My computer was infected by a virus.
Say it for a higher band
5bug→6malware→7+virus
Synonyms
malware
trojan
Easily confused
bug
“The software crashed because of a bug in the latest update.”
malware
“The company's systems were hit by malware that encrypted their files.”
Related words
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In Technology & Internet
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