How to Use virulent in a Sentence

virulent

adjective
Definition of virulentnext
Synonyms for virulentnext
  • The country seemed to be returning to the virulent nationalism of its past.
  • But the state quickly lost ground to the virulent delta variant.
    — Joe Mahr, chicagotribune.com, 27 Feb. 2022
  • This makes black spot less virulent in the dry summer months.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2023
  • There is no law of nature that says a virus has to evolve to be less virulent, Barry says.
    — Josh Fischman, Scientific American, 4 Mar. 2022
  • If the pathogen is present and virulent but the rose is resistant to the pathogen, disease will not develop.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2023
  • But Delta was about twice as virulent as the initial iteration of the virus.
    — Clayton Dalton, The New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2022
  • But there is no law of nature that says a virus must always evolve to become less virulent.
    — Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 14 Mar. 2022
  • The House has become its own special petri dish, breeding the most virulent strain of what ails the broader party.
    — Dan Balz, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Jan. 2023
  • In 2015, a virulent avian flu outbreak nearly wiped out his flock.
    — David Klepper, ajc, 17 May 2022
  • Topol fears that a future variant will be more virulent.
    — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022
  • Omicron was the first version of that, and there is this sort of adage that ‘well, over time, viruses evolve to be less virulent,’ but that’s not really true.
    — Jonathan Mattise, chicagotribune.com, 20 Feb. 2022
  • Omicron was the first version of that, and there is this sort of adage that 'well, over time, viruses evolve to be less virulent,' but that's not really true.
    — Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 21 Feb. 2022
  • Others say it’s too early to tell, and point out that a milder variant next month doesn’t mean a more virulent one couldn’t emerge the following.
    — Erin Prater, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2022
  • How the cottony cushion scale, a virulent tree pest native to Australia, was unleashed upon the citrus trees of the world is a bit of a mystery.
    — Martin J. Kernan, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Jan. 2022
  • To these has been added an outbreak of virulent antisemitism.
    — John Ellis, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2023
  • That moisture can also play a key role in slowing the state’s virulent wildfire season — flames can’t burn wet sticks.
    — Emma Talley, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Sep. 2022
  • Flu is being driven by the more virulent Flu A strain, 78% of which has been H3N2, which is known to cause more severe illness in children and the elderly.
    — Monica Gandhi, Time, 13 Dec. 2022
  • The virulent language, plus the threats reported by Target, come at a time when trans rights are under attack in the United States.
    — Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN, 27 May 2023
  • The state’s memo emphasized this guidance could be changed if a more virulent variant emerges, or there are future surges of a new variant.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2022
  • But Brilliant, of all people, knows that with ever-more virulent variants of Covid-19, even the most meticulous virus-avoider might get sick.
    — Wired, 7 Aug. 2022
  • What’s less of a blur, however, was the virulent hostility Dunham seemed to evoke from the moment Girls hit the air — and which still hasn’t let up, more than a decade later.
    — Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2022
  • Delta was a warning shot across our bow, showing the virus can become both more transmissible and more virulent.
    — Marla Broadfoot, Scientific American, 17 Feb. 2022
  • These strains have been recorded from the remains of plague victims in Europe, and they are found across the world even today in generally less virulent forms.
    — Jen Pinkowski, Scientific American, 15 June 2022
  • There have been, however, instances where viruses have gotten less virulent in the past.
    — Sophie Mellor, Fortune, 19 Jan. 2022
  • Of course, neo-Nazis don’t just target Jews and have a virulent hatred of African Americans and all nonwhite minorities.
    — Barry Levinson, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Aug. 2022
  • While omicron appears to be less virulent, experts say the Chinese health care system would be overwhelmed by an outbreak of the kind that has been seen elsewhere.
    — NBC News, 30 Mar. 2022
  • Scores of virulent riot police have shown up to evict them without prior notice.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 29 Jan. 2024
  • The virus can then spread among unvaccinated people and mutate to be more virulent.
    — Aria Bendix, NBC News, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Every now and then though a more transmissible or more virulent variant may emerge.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 5 Jan. 2022
  • The dominant strain this year has been H3N2, which experts say tends to be more virulent and often causes more severe illness.
    — Joe Murphy, NBC News, 9 May 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'virulent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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