as in severity
biting sharpness of feeling or expression
the virulency of his critical judgments became the stuff of Broadway legend
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Recent Examples of virulency
The virulency of Covid-19 trained even those of us who shop locally out of principal to purchase online.
—
Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 2 Mar. 2021
Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 2 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for virulency
Noun
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Recalls are typically classified by severity, and while not all involve immediate danger, they are carried out as a precaution to protect public health.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 May 2025
-
Class 2 obesity: This ranges from 35-39.9, with a moderate risk of severity.—
Sherri Gordon,
Health,
15 May 2025
Noun
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Ultimately, restrictions on vacant CPS property sales are part of a broader problem, and that’s education officials’ open hostility toward alternative education models.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
14 May 2025
-
Then a decade of talks crashed into President Trump’s hostility toward Canada.—
Karen Weise,
New York Times,
13 May 2025
Noun
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In Canada, modest supply management policies keep farmgate and farmer pay prices higher, while disincentivizing the buildout of fast-paced, crowded and large scale production facilities at the heart of avian flu virulence.—
Errol Schweizer,
Forbes,
24 Mar. 2025
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Everything about the movement surprised political observers: its virulence, its magnitude, its provincial origins, its apparent lack of structure and leadership, and its adamant refusal to be co-opted by existing political parties and unions.—
Arthur Goldhammer,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Dec. 2018
Noun
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He was released from the hospital on Wednesday after being monitored for three days to ensure no bile was leaking into the bloodstream.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Her symptoms include vomiting up clots of hair, bile and sewing pins; making scary pronouncements in a guttural voice that is not her own; and being unusually attractive to wasps, whose carcasses litter her bedclothes.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
5 Apr. 2025
Noun
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But Lloyd’s version brims with mordancy.—
Sarah Weinman,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2023
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The gray-tint, cross-hatched drawings evoke George Cruikshank and Samuel Palmer, but the mordancy is vintage Sendak.—
The Week Staff,
The Week,
17 Oct. 2022
Noun
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Colt has been indicted on 55 felony counts, including four counts of malice murder, according to court documents, and has pleaded not guilty.—
Devon M. Sayers,
CNN Money,
6 May 2025
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Without it, little remained but his malice, his pettiness, and his insatiable appetite for revenge.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The city councilor and over two dozen residents responded to Eureka Street after the presence of federal agents in the neighborhood sparked anger Thursday morning.—
Lance Reynolds,
Boston Herald,
10 May 2025
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Meanwhile, reports that the Trump administration will announce a U.S. renaming of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf would be enthusiastically welcomed by Arab states, but could draw severe anger from Iran at a time of delicate nuclear negotiations with Tehran.—
Natasha Turak,
CNBC,
9 May 2025
Noun
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Whether the source of sweetness was molasses, maple syrup, cane sugar, or something else, our tasters wanted restraint in this area and balance through savoriness and acidity.—
Sam Stone,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
7 May 2025
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Other highlights in the first flight of 9 wines included 1978 with fresh cassis, blackberries, and a hint of mint and chocolate, as well as 1986 which was brimming with black cherry, plum, cedar, juicy acidity and a very long finish.—
Liz Thach,
Forbes.com,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Virulency.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/virulency. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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