Topicala
Topicala is a simple, small, meta-search engine, that helps You find the sites you need. Created By Paul Kinlan. Web Hosting by SwitchMedia.
Search [?]  
Dictionary Results For "virtual" [?]/[OPML]
Ads By Google
Wiktionary Articles [RSS] - [GNU, www.Wiktionary.org]

English

Etymology

From {{term|virtualis|virtuālis|lang=la}} from {{term|virtus||virtue|lang=la}}.

Pronunciation


Adjective

  1. In effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated, substantial.
  2. : In fact a defeat on the battlefield, Tet was a virtual victory for the North, owing to its effect on public opinion.
  3. : Virtual addressing allows applications to believe that there is much more physical memory than actually exists.
  4. nearly|Nearly, almost. (A relatively recent corruption of meaning, attributed to misuse in advertising and media.)
  5. : The angry peasants were a virtual army as they attacked the castle.
  6. : ''...leaves your dishes virtually spotless.
  7. Of something that is simulated in a computer or on-line.
  8. : The virtual world of his computer game allowed character interaction.


Synonyms


Antonyms


Derived terms


Translations

  • French:
  • Italian:

el:virtual fa:virtual fr:virtual io:virtual it:virtual lt:virtual hu:virtual pl:virtual ru:virtual fi:virtual ta:virtual te:virtual vi:virtual uk:virtual zh:virtual

GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Virtual \Vir"tu*al\ (?; 135), a. [Cf. F. virtuel. See Virtue.]
1. Having the power of acting or of invisible efficacy
without the agency of the material or sensible part;
potential; energizing.
[1913 Webster]

Heat and cold have a virtual transition, without
communication of substance. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]

Every kind that lives,
Fomented by his virtual power, and warmed. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]

2. Being in essence or effect, not in fact; as, the virtual
presence of a man in his agent or substitute.
[1913 Webster]

A thing has a virtual existence when it has all the
conditions necessary to its actual existence.
--Fleming.
[1913 Webster]

To mask by slight differences in the manners a
virtual identity in the substance. --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]

Principle of virtual velocities (Mech.), the law that when
several forces are in equilibrium, the algebraic sum of
their virtual moments is equal to zero.

Virtual focus (Opt.), the point from which rays, having
been rendered divergent by reflection of refraction,
appear to issue; the point at which converging rays would
meet if not reflected or refracted before they reach it.

Virtual image. (Optics) See under Image.

Virtual moment (of a force) (Mech.), the product of the
intensity of the force multiplied by the virtual velocity
of its point of application; -- sometimes called {virtual
work}.

Virtual velocity (Mech.), a minute hypothetical
displacement, assumed in analysis to facilitate the
investigation of statical problems. With respect to any
given force of a number of forces holding a material
system in equilibrium, it is the projection, upon the
direction of the force, of a line joining its point of
application with a new position of that point indefinitely
near to the first, to which the point is conceived to have
been moved, without disturbing the equilibrium of the
system, or the connections of its parts with each other.
Strictly speaking, it is not a velocity but a length.

Virtual work. (Mech.) See Virtual moment, above.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet virtual
adj 1: being actually such in almost every respect; "a practical
failure"; "the once elegant temple lay in virtual
ruin" [syn: virtual(a), practical(a)]
2: being such in essence or effect though not in actual fact;
"a virtual dependence on charity"; "a virtual revolution";
"virtual reality" [syn: virtual(a)]
Moby Dictionary
accepted , basic , between the lines , constructive , covert , cryptic ,
delitescent , dormant , effective , esoteric , essential , fundamental ,
hibernating , hidden , latent , lurking , muffled , mystic , obfuscated ,
obscured , occult , possible , potential , practical , sleeping ,
submerged , under the surface , underlying , understood , unmanifested ,
veiled


Jargon virtual adj. [via the technical term `virtual memory', prob. from the
term `virtual image' in optics] 1. Common alternative to logical;
often used to refer to the artificial objects (like addressable virtual
memory larger than physical memory) simulated by a computer system as a
convenient way to manage access to shared resources. 2. Simulated;
performing the functions of something that isn't really there. An
imaginative child's doll may be a virtual playmate. Oppose real.


FOLDOC virtual

(Via the technical term {virtual
memory}, probably from the term "virtual image" in optics)
1. Common alternative to logical; often used to refer to the
artificial objects (like addressable virtual memory larger
than physical memory) created by a computer system to help the
system control access to shared resources.

2. Simulated; performing the functions of something that isn't
really there. An imaginative child's doll may be a virtual
playmate.

Opposite of real or physical.

[Jargon File]

(1994-11-30)


Created By Paul Kinlan. Web Hosting by SwitchMedia.