viral

What it means

Describes content that spreads extremely fast and widely across the internet through sharing, racking up huge views or engagement in a short time. Something "goes viral" when it suddenly blows up far beyond its original audience.

Examples

• Her dance went viral overnight and now she's everywhere.
• That meme is so viral my mom sent it to me.
• He posted one video and it went viral with 10 million views.
• We're trying to make this sound go viral on TikTok.

Where it comes from

Borrowed from epidemiology (spreading like a virus); applied to internet content in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it became central slang with the rise of YouTube, Twitter, and later TikTok.

Related slang