viraladj/ˈvaɪɹəl/

• 1

  biologymicrobiologynatural-sciencesOf or relating to a biological virus.

  • viral DNA
• 2

  biologymicrobiologynatural-sciencesCaused by a virus.

  • viral infection
• 3

  computingengineeringmathematicsOf the nature of an informatic virus; able to spread copies of itself to other computers.

• 4

  advertisingbusinessmarketingSpread by word of mouth with minimal intervention, in order to create buzz and interest.

  • “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—”
  • 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

  Circulated rapidly and widely from one user to another.

  • 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.
  • 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.’

viralnoun/ˈvaɪɹəl/

• 1

  businessmarketingA 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.