Ebola virus

noun

: any of several filoviruses (genus Orthoebolavirus and especially O. zairense) of African origin that cause an often fatal hemorrhagic fever

Examples of Ebola virus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Marburg is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by a virus that is related to the family of Ebola viruses. — Helen Branswell, STAT, 16 July 2026

Second, an unpredictable variant of the Ebola virus has taken hold in Congo and Uganda. — Peter Hailey, The Conversation, 16 July 2026

On Monday, dozens of people working at an Ebola virus treatment center in northeast Congo went on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses. — ABC News, 14 July 2026

Remdesivir is an anti-viral medication that targets a broad range of viruses, including COVID-19, hepatitis C, Marburg and Ebola viruses. — Omer Awan, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the Ebola River in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire)

Note: According to Peter Piot, a Belgian member of an international commission formed to investigate the first outbreak of the virus in 1976, the name was chosen by members of the commission (including the French physician Pierre Sureau and the Americans Karl Johnson and Joel Breman) from a map of Zaire at the Fonds Médical Tropical, a non-governmental organization in Kinshasa where the members were lodged. Though the Ebola River (a headwater stream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo) turned out to be a considerable distance from the village of Yambuku where the fever was first observed, the name was nonetheless retained. The name "Yambuku virus" was avoided because of the stigma it would have attached to the village. (See Peter Piot, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 56-57.)

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Ebola virus

• adenovirus
• baculovirus
• coronavirus
• enterovirus
• poliovirus
• antivirus
• herpesvirus
• parvovirus
• reovirus
• retrovirus
• rhinovirus
• rotavirus

Medical Definition

Ebola virus

noun

: any of several filoviruses (genus Orthoebolavirus and especially O. zairense) of African origin that cause an often fatal hemorrhagic fever