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
-
Yet, the severity of gendered crime during Partition wasn’t caused by an arbitrary upsurge of madness.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Allergic reactions vary in severity from mild symptoms such as hives and lip swelling to life-threatening complications, such as anaphylaxis, that may include fatal respiratory problems.—
Matthew Robinson,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
What remains is not shame or bitterness, but genuine care.—
Kelly Foster Lundquist,
PEOPLE,
2 Nov. 2025
-
This swap will not only increase the healthfulness of your recipe, but dark chocolate’s bitterness is the perfect contrast to the sweetness of most baked goods.—
Christina Manian,
Health,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
One can be sure that the utility of having hostilities with Venezuela for this case is not lost on the administration.—
David Smilde,
Time,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Before the Chiefs’ Divisional Round win in January 2024, Jones embraced that hostility by jawing with fans during warmups.—
Pete Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
One Pasteurella-like microbe carried genetic hints of virulence and has ties to deadly outbreaks in modern African elephants.—
Pranjal Malewar,
New Atlas,
30 Sep. 2025
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While VUMs require more testing to establish their true risks to public health, VOIs are explicitly confirmed to have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics like transmissibility and virulence.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
9 June 2025
Noun
-
All brittleness and bile in the hands of Diego Luna, Valentín’s quiet righteousness rubs up against his cellmate’s grandiosity in all the wrong ways — at first.—
Blythe Marks,
Them.,
17 Oct. 2025
-
That means good bile flow (supported by healthy fats, hydration and fiber) and regular bowel movements so waste doesn’t get reabsorbed.—
Lauren Mallers,
Sacbee.com,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But Lloyd’s version brims with mordancy.—
Sarah Weinman,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2023
-
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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Potential adversaries interpret political action in zero-sum terms; see malice and evil design in mere blunders and coincidence; trumpet necessity rather than navigate choice; and, in extreme cases, invent pretext or promise profit to make more palatable a dubious cause.—
Elizabeth D. Samet,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
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This was all in jest though and while many would object to making homophobia a joke, there didn’t appear to be actual malice behind it, at least from a superficial look.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Our hero is also being coveted by a crime boss, and as he gets pulled further and further into this world, Farrell has to show his inner violence and anger breaking through.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
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Symptoms can include memory loss, impulse control problems, anxiety, depression and anger issues.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Virulency.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/virulency. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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