viral spread
Rapid infectious dissemination
Viral spread describes how something proliferates rapidly and widely, like a virus passing from host to host.
The term applies literally to disease transmission: The viral spread of COVID-19 overwhelmed hospitals.
More often it describes information, content, or trends that propagate explosively through social networks: The video's viral spread made her famous overnight.
The metaphor captures both speed and the seemingly autonomous, uncontrollable nature of the transmission.
- contagionDisease spread by contact
- patient zeroFirst documented infection
- outbreakSudden eruption of trouble
- pandemicGlobal disease outbreak
- epidemicWidespread disease occurrence
infection · transmission · pathogen · disease · meme · trending · wildfire · airborne · droplets · superspreader · contact tracing · exponential · flatten the curve · quarantine · social distancing · herd immunity · contamination · fever
- herd behaviorherd mentality, bandwagon effect, conformism, peer pressure, following the crowd
- runaway effectschain reaction, domino effect, snowball effect, runaway effect, feedback loop
- Trend Termsfads, crazes, trendsetter, influencer, fad
- going viralbuzz, hype, trend, fad, craze
- memeticsmeme, replicator, cultural evolution, cultural inheritance, internet meme
- communicationtelephone, conversation, inform, hand signal, messages
viral, spread, virus, viruses, virality, virally, virology, virologist, virological