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Viral vs Widespread - What's the difference?

viral | widespread |

As adjectives the difference between viral and widespread

is that viral is (virology) of or relating to a biological virus while widespread is affecting a large area (eg the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.

As a noun viral

is (marketing) a video, image or text spread by "word of mouth" on the internet or by e-mail for humorous, political or marketing purposes.

viral

English

Adjective

(-)
  • (virology) Of or relating to a biological virus.
    • viral DNA
  • (virology) Caused by a virus.
    • viral infection
  • (computing) Of the nature of an informatic virus; able to spread copies of itself to other computers.
  • (advertising, and, marketing) Spread by word of mouth, with minimal intervention in order to create buzz and interest.

    • Derived terms

    * go viral * viral marketing

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (marketing) A video, image or text spread by "word of mouth" on the internet or by e-mail for humorous, political or marketing purposes.
  • * 2002, Nik Lever, Flash Mx Games: ActionScript for Artists , Focal Press, page 411,
    • Using the Flash ActiveX control in this way allows you as a developer to create desktop characters, email virals and screensavers.
  • * 2003, Dave Chaffey, Total E-Mail Marketing , Elsevier, page 2,
    • [M]ost virals are not seen as profiling and data collection exercises, since that would kill the impulse of forwarding to a friend.
  • * 2005, Russell Evans, Practical DV Filmmaking , Focal Press, page 289,
    • Music company virals are becoming commonplace as costs of promos force labels to reconsider how to target more directly to consumers.

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    widespread

    English

    Adjective

  • Affecting a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused.
  • *
  • *:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
    • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic

    Synonyms

    * extensive, pervasive, prevalent, ubiquitous, universal

    Antonyms

    * limited