VIRTUAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does virtual mean? 

• VIRTUAL (adjective)
  The adjective VIRTUAL has 2 senses:

1. being actually such in almost every respect

2. existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact

  Familiarity information: VIRTUAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VIRTUAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being actually such in almost every respect

Synonyms:

practical; virtual

Context example:

the once elegant temple lay in virtual ruin

Similar:

realistic (aware or expressing awareness of things as they really are)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact

Context example:

virtual reality

Similar:

essential (basic and fundamental)

 Context examples 

Also called computed tomographic colonography, CT colonography, CTC, and virtual colonoscopy.

(Computed tomography colonography, NCI Dictionary)

Virtual reality employs medical images as a foundation to create innovative methods of reviewing and analyzing the data they produce.

(Medical Imaging, Virtual Reality, NCI Thesaurus)

You will be a virtual idea factory on this day, impressing everyone in sight.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“This gave us a virtual telescope as big as Earth — about 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) in diameter,” he told AFP.

(Astronomers Piece Together First Image of Black Hole, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They found the virtual bees changed the shape of their cluster in the same way as did those in the real one, offering strong evidence that their theory was correct.

(Bees Help Researchers Confirm Theory about Maintaining Protective Clumps under Tough Conditions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Also called computed tomographic colonography, computed tomography colonography, CT colonography, and virtual colonoscopy.

(CTC, NCI Dictionary)

Also called computed tomography colonography, CT colonography, CTC, and virtual colonoscopy.

(Computed tomographic colonography, NCI Dictionary)

Scientists have identified mechanisms in the human brain that could help explain the phenomenon of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ – the unsettling feeling we get from robots and virtual agents that are too human-like.

(Scientists identify possible source of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the brain, University of Cambridge)

Also called computed tomographic colonography, computed tomography colonography, CTC, and virtual colonoscopy.

(CT colonography, NCI Dictionary)

By displaying the different velocities we can cut this cosmic bubble into virtual slices just as we do in computer tomography of a human body.

(Ageing Star Blows Off Smoky Bubble, ESO)