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:
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks kicked off a series of once-a-century crises: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the global financial crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
The fast-and-furious dialogue hits its nadir when Madison’s Frances slips Jeff important documents that he can’t even read because she nonsensically starts chattering about the looming coronavirus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Research into breast cancer or DNA sequencing that helped combat coronavirus could also be honoured.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Dubai’s travel economy has shown some ability to rebound from major shocks, like the coronavirus pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
The coronavirus pandemic forced many businesses to allow working from home, depending on the nature of the business.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
The company plans to focus in coming months on antibodies for coronaviruses, ebola-like viruses, bat-borne viruses, hemorrhagic-fever viruses, smallpox-like viruses and other potential threats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 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 Cambridge researchers took known genetic codes – the instruction manuals of life – from a range of coronaviruses that had been recorded by surveillance programmes hunting for potential viral threats.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Most efforts to create broader vaccines have aimed to protect against an entire viral family, such as all coronaviruses or all influenza strains, by targeting viral components that mutate less frequently.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
A recent study in the journal Nature solves part of that mystery by breaking down exactly how bats can live specifically with coronaviruses and not show symptoms.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
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