coronavirus
Americannoun
-
coronaviruses
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of coronavirus
First recorded in 1965–70; so called from the coronalike array of spikes projecting from the capsid
Compare meaning
How does coronavirus compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A coronavirus is a specific type of microbe that can cause an infectious disease. One particular coronavirus, first identified in 2019, caused a worldwide pandemic. If you look at a coronavirus under a microscope, you'll see its round, spiky, crownlike shape. That's where this virus gets its name; corona means "crown" in Latin. People talked about coronaviruses a lot in 2020 because of Covid-19 (an acronym for coronavirus disease of 2019). But these viruses have been around for generations, and they're usually not so deadly. In fact, coronaviruses are responsible for the common cold, as well as illnesses affecting birds and non-human mammals.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It gained global attention as a potential "miracle drug" during the coronavirus pandemic, although clinical trials have consistently shown it does not provide clinical benefits for Covid-19 patients.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
These services boomed at the height of the pandemic as listeners turned to digital platforms to enjoy their favorite artists when coronavirus restrictions brought live concerts to a standstill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The consumer-price index sank 0.4% last month to mark the first drop since May 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was in its early months and raging globally.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
As White House correspondent for CBS News, Reid was known for asking tough questions of Trump during his White House briefings on the coronavirus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
To investigate the process, researchers compared SARS-CoV-2 with RaTG13, a closely related coronavirus that infects bats but has not been known to infect humans.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
In the case of a global pandemic “where the whole population gets infected, basically you have a denominator of 7 billion people,” said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa microbiologist who studies coronaviruses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
The company's vaccine development pipeline also includes candidates targeting seasonal influenza, pandemic influenza threats, hemorrhagic fever viruses, and coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
Rather than focusing on a single virus strain, the AI system analyzed genetic information from Sarbeco coronaviruses collected through surveillance programs worldwide.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
The vaccine was engineered to work on all coronaviruses which would include all Covid variants and viruses that infect animals, but could start the next pandemic.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
In addition to explaining how bats’ immune systems keep up with coronaviruses, and possibly all viruses, the research also sheds light on bats’ evolutionary history.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
