Literary notes about virulent (AI summary)
The term "virulent" is employed in literature to suggest an intensity that can be both physical and metaphorical. In some texts, it describes substances or illnesses with an inherent, dangerous potency, evoking images of poisonous toxins or diseases that ravage their hosts—as seen when referring to deadly poisons and aggressive fevers [1], [2], [3], [4]. In other contexts, the word is used figuratively to characterize harsh, biting rhetoric or emotions, conveying feelings of bitter, destructive animosity and hostility in social or political discourse [5], [6], [7]. This dual capacity to depict both literal toxicity and metaphorical venom allows authors to enrich their narratives with a layer of relentless intensity and danger.
- O unlucky one, mayst thou be bitten by a fierce and enraged snake of virulent poison!
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - The doctor had pronounced the attack a virulent case of influenza.
— from The Great Pearl Secret by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson - For a whole fortnight we unceasingly watched beside the poor child, as his life declined under the ravages of a virulent typhus.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - God has been pleased in His wisdom and mercy to send upon us a terrible visitation, a most virulent form of dysentery.
— from Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge - On May 26, nearly two pages of the same newspaper were again filled with virulent abuse of Whitefield.
— from The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2) by L. (Luke) Tyerman - " These two clauses have been the source of much virulent invective and petulant declamation against the proposed Constitution.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - Nothing can be more virulent than the hatred which exists between the Americans of the United States and the English.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville
