Word.ws English Dictionary

viral sex

viral sex noun: the process by which two viruses meet in a single host and reproduce to create a new virus that includes genetic material from both of them.

Noun

viral sex (uncountable)

  1. The process by which two viruses meet in a single host and reproduce to create a new virus that includes genetic material from both of them.
    • Bacterial and viral sex, we believe, evolved in response to nucleic acid-threatening radiation and led to the spread of genes as "small genetic entities" in protected packets [Sonea and Panisett, 1983].1985, Harlyn Odell Halvorson, Alberto Monroy, The Origin and Evolution of Sex, page 75
    • Once each of the eight gene segments have been sequenced, he says, it will be possible to recreate viral sex in the lab, inserting one segment at a time into an everyday human flu strain.2000, New Scientist - Volume 167, Issues 2254-2262, page 332

Questions about viral sex

What does viral sex mean?
Viral sex means the process by which two viruses meet in a single host and reproduce to create a new virus that includes genetic material from both of them.
What part of speech is viral sex?
Viral sex is a noun.

Words near viral sex in the dictionary

  1. viral envelopes
  2. viral load
  3. viral loads
  4. viral marketing
  5. viral media
  6. viral sex
  7. viral vector
  8. viral vectors
  9. viralities
  10. virality
  11. viralization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: viral sex (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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