ANTIVIRAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does antiviral mean? 

• ANTIVIRAL (noun)
  The noun ANTIVIRAL has 1 sense:

1. any drug that destroys viruses

  Familiarity information: ANTIVIRAL used as a noun is very rare.

• ANTIVIRAL (adjective)
  The adjective ANTIVIRAL has 1 sense:

1. inhibiting or stopping the growth and reproduction of viruses

  Familiarity information: ANTIVIRAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTIVIRAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any drug that destroys viruses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

antiviral; antiviral agent; antiviral drug

Hypernyms ("antiviral" is a kind of...):

medicament; medication; medicinal drug; medicine ((medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "antiviral"):

DDC; dideoxycytosine; zalcitabine; DDI; didanosine; dideoxyinosine (an antiviral drug used to combat HIV infection)

interferon (an antiviral protein produced by cells that have been invaded by a virus; inhibits replication of the virus)

PI; protease inhibitor (an antiviral drug used against HIV; interrupts HIV replication by binding and blocking HIV protease; often used in combination with other drugs)

reverse transcriptase inhibitor (an antiviral drug that inhibits the action of reverse transcriptase in retroviruses such as HIV)

ribavirin; Virazole (an inhaled antiviral agent (trade name Virazole) that may be used to treat serious virus infections)

• ANTIVIRAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inhibiting or stopping the growth and reproduction of viruses

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

antiviral (any drug that destroys viruses)

 Context examples 

A covalent conjugate of recombinant interferon alpha, subtype 2b, and polyethylene glycol (PEG), used as an antiviral and antineoplastic agent.

(Peginterferon alfa-2b, NCI Thesaurus)

A bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) therapeutic vaccine containing recombinant inactivated adenylate cyclase (CyaA) from Bordetella pertussis carrying a sequence encoding the E7 antigen of both HPV16 and 18, with potential immunostimulatory and antiviral properties.

(Bivalent HPV16/18 Therapeutic Cervical Cancer Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

Capravirine shows antiviral activity against wild-type HIV as well as HIV strains with mutations in reverse transcriptase.

(Capravirine, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in inflammatory and antiviral responses.

(CCL4 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in antiviral responses.

(CCL5 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Antiviral medicines may make the illness less severe, and may help prevent the flu in people who were exposed to it.

(Bird Flu, NIH)

Although current antiviral medicines such as nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy could significantly reduce liver cancer risk.

(An Aspirin A Day Keep Liver Cancer Away, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It has shown antiviral and anticancer effects.

(Arctigenin, NCI Dictionary)

The sulfate salt of amantadine, a synthetic tricyclic amine with antiviral, antiparkinsonian, and antihyperalgesic activities.

(Amantadine Sulfate, NCI Thesaurus)

In EBV-related lymphomas, arginine butyrate induces EBV thymidine kinase transcription and may act synergistically with the antiviral agent ganciclovir to inhibit cell proliferation and decrease cell viability.

(Arginine butyrate, NCI Thesaurus)