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virtual

virtual

163 4.4
Existing in a computer or online space instead of the real world
  • adjective
  • /ˈvɜr.tʃu.əl/
  • Texting
translation icon : virtual
  • Use social networking tools to design virtual spaces for blogging, information sharing, and discussions.
  • virtual reality
  • virtual world
  • virtual machine

Now that's this is how a virtual reality is defined.

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Examples

  • Students have a chance to play a "virtual guitar" on this unique site.

    Academic text (1999)
  • We are doing a virtual book tour, a virtual launch.

  • Now, we also used this virtual London in another study.

  • Imagine you go through a virtual museum, right?

  • And then he pitched a virtual event in June.

  • Thank you so much for joining this virtual Zoom party.

  • Unlike the SAFE program described above, the Florida Virtual School is entirely online.

    Academic text (2011)
  • There's a virtual race happening tomorrow.

  • Most of our meetings were virtual, using conference calls and Google Docs to collaborate across the country.

    Academic text (2011)
  • In the virtual classroom, students from all over the world can learn together.

Synonyms

simulated
vsvirtual
4.4

Made to look like the real thing for practice

exists mainly in computer or online environments rather than physical ones

Antonyms

798 2.7

About real material things you can see or touch

101 4.6

Real and able to be touched or clearly felt

Compounds

virtual reality
  • Specialized
29 4.5

A world made by a computer that you can look around, move in, and touch with special goggles or gloves

virtual tour
  • Texting
3 3.1

An online walk through a real place on your computer or phone

virtual memory
  • Specialized
1 4.2

The computer uses part of its hard disk as extra memory when RAM is full

virtual image
  • Specialized
7.0

An image seen in a mirror that cannot be projected onto a screen

virtual image
  • Specialized
5.3

A picture a computer makes for a game or simulation

3.9

A shared online place where people work together and share files

virtual storage
  • Specialized
4.6

Part of a computer's disk used like extra memory when the computer's memory is full

virtual storage
  • Texting
3.6

Online space where you keep and access your files over the internet

A computer model of a person or thing used to test and show how it works

How Simulated

simulated
4.4
virtual
  • Texting
163 4.4
physical
798 2.7

Surface Forms

virtual positive

Morphology

virtual = virtue (opaque) = virt + ual

The connection between 'virtue' and 'virtual' is not clear to learners, as the meaning has shifted significantly.

Etymology

Virtual grew from the idea of 'in effect' to describe things that act like the real thing but are not physical, as in virtual reality. So a virtual tour or world exists in a computer or online and feels real even though it is not in the physical world.