mind virus
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.38 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A concept, belief, or message that propagates through a population by, analogized to the spread of a biological virus; a self-replicating idea or notion that spreads between individuals, typically by exploiting psychological incentives such as fear, hope, or social pressure.
Example Sentences
- "Dawkins deserves credit for looking at traditional materials from a novel perspective. But the discovery of memes and particularly of the St. Jude mind virus was new only to biologists."
- "I am tired of the mind viruses that are crippling people living in the western world — especially in my own nation. Sadly, Australia is becoming known as a nation of whingers."
- "‘I had to kill Palmoon,’ I told him. ‘He killed Wandour and Lavault. Flayr told me, before he died, about the mind virus. I got a touch of it — it must have driven Palmoon mad.’ ‘There was no mind virus. The toy planted that idea itself, to keep you confused. ‘But Flayr told me.’ ‘He was probably already dead.’ I remembered a hole the size of a fist in the side of Flayr's head. ‘But there must have been a mind virus,’ I protested. ‘She must have slipped it to us in the drink.’"
Etymology
Inflected Forms
Phrases
St Jude mind virus
woke mind virus