virtual
/ˈvəːtʃʊ(ə)l
/ /ˈvəːtjʊəl/adjective
1Almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according to strict definition: the virtual absence of border controls...
- The first is the cost of research and the need for profits to justify such costs; the second is the absence from virtual markets of the purely profit-based phenomenon of arbitrage.
- One day the richest among us could turn nearly immortal, becoming virtual Gods to the rest of us.
- Eastern provinces near the Pakistan border have also become virtual no-go areas.
Synonyms
effective, in effect, near, near enough, essential, practical, for all practical purposes, to all intents and purposes, in all but name, indirect, implied, implicit, unacknowledged, tacit
2 Computing Not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so: virtual images...See also virtual reality.
- Once they figured out how to get Trojans onto computer, creating their own virtual spamming super computer, spammers have adopted this method for most of the spam they send out.
- This paper explores the potential for developing virtual dissection software for physical collaboration.
- The software also supports multiple virtual desktops.
2.1Carried out, accessed, or stored by means of a computer, especially over a network: a virtual library virtual learning...
- One museum Web site featured a virtual tour of the museum's physical galleries.
- Yet it is the teachers who must make the virtual classroom - with all its practicalities - actually function.
- There is a major need for expert mediated virtual libraries (VLs) of well-selected and described links to scholarly and educational resources.
3 Optics Relating to the points at which rays would meet if produced backwards.
4 Mechanics Relating to or denoting infinitesimal displacements of a point in a system.The frames feature a unique Four-Bar linkage to create a stationary virtual pivot point on the pedal axle of the bike.
5 Physics Denoting particles or interactions with extremely short lifetimes and (owing to the uncertainty principle) indefinitely great energies, postulated as intermediates in some processes.An electron blasts a proton and neutron into myriad virtual particles, which then reconfigure themselves into two double-quark particles....
- The resulting electric field would create a plasma of electrons and positrons from among the virtual particles surrounding the star.
- But the gluons are unlike the carrier particles of the electromagnetic force which appeared along with the virtual electrons and positrons.
Derivatives
virtuality
- Letting go is an interesting gesture, because in fact it's almost like invoking the virtuality of the self, just putting it spontaneously on the table.
- What's important here is that this virtuality had actual consequences: it erased particular histories and experiences.
- So should we expect reality and virtuality to diverge?
Origin
Late Middle English (also in the sense 'possessing certain virtues'): from medieval Latin virtualis, from Latin virtus 'virtue', suggested by late Latin virtuosus.