to go viral
- phrasal verb
- /ɡoʊ ˈvaɪrəl/
- Texting
- The meme went viral overnight, spreading across all major social media platforms.
There's, you know, a video that went viral of you and Kavya.
- There's, you know, a video that went viral of you and Kavya.
- There's so many moments that then went viral in the strip club.
- Yeah, now, a video going viral doesn't make you anything.
- Mark McGrath, you went viral back in the day.
- So the event went viral on Vimeo first, which seems.
- So I've been fortunate enough to go viral continually with the kayaking business.
- So I've been fortunate enough to go viral continually with the Kai King business.
- That clip went viral because Warren wasn't telling the truth.
- The next thing we put out went viral and everything changed from there.
- You can, you know, get wrecked or go viral, right?
- Now, you asked me about how to make a video go viral or make a viral video.
- And that clip went viral to millions and millions and millions of people.
Examples
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The Kony 2012 YouTube video went viral as soon as it was posted.
Blog text (2) -
No, your video went viral.
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How does it feel to go viral?
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- Your video went viral, man.
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And the truth is, they go viral because dancing is cool.
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Here are a few ways to help your posts go viral through social media.
Blog text (8) -
A protest on a single college campus can go viral within minutes.
Academic text (2016) -
If a blog entry goes viral, your estimate is very, very low.
Blog text (6) -
In 2008, it launched The Girl Effect, a dramatic, smartly produced video that has since gone viral on the Internet.
Academic text (2010) -
His funny dance routine quickly went viral and gained millions of views online.
Synonyms
To become known by many people
To spread information or documents among people
Spread quickly among many people
Spread among many people, as with a story or rumor
Information becomes known to many people
To become popular online for a short time
To spread information or ideas widely so many people know them
To get a lot of attention in the news
To become very popular quickly, often online
To get attention by appearing in news reports
Spread ideas, news, or feelings to many people
To quickly become very popular and liked by many people
Many people start to like or use something
To become known by many people very quickly
To become very popular quickly, especially online
Cause a huge rise in online attention and internet traffic
To spread news or pictures quickly among many people on the internet
Become very popular or successful very quickly
To spread bad news or rumors very quickly and be hard to stop
Antonyms
How Widely
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'go' meaning 'come to be in a particular state' combined with 'viral' meaning 'spreading rapidly' yields a directly compositional meaning: to become viral or to spread very quickly. The 'go + adjective' pattern is common in English (e.g., go bad, go mad) and the metaphor of rapid spread is widely understandable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase go viral comes from the image of a viral infection that spreads quickly from person to person, like a disease. So when a video or post goes viral, it 'spreads very quickly to a large number of people on the internet'.