virtual

adj

1. (not-comparable)In effect or essence, rather than in fact or reality; also, imitated, simulated.

   “In fact a defeat on the battlefield, Tet was a virtual victory for the North, owing to its effect on public opinion.”

   “Virtual addressing allows computer applications to believe that there is much more physical memory than actually exists.”

   “[W]e affirm, that Christ is really taken by faith, by the Spirit, to all real effects of his passion; they say, he is taken by the mouth, and that the spiritual and the virtual taking him, in virtue or effect, is not sufficient, though done also in the sacrament.”

   “And the true art for such popular display is to contrive the best forms for appearing to say something new, when in reality you are but echoing yourself; to break up massy chords into running variations; and to mask, by slight differences in the manner, a virtual identity in the substance.”

   “VIRTUAL is opposed to actual.— […] A thing has a virtual existence when it has all the conditions necessary to its actual existence. The statue exists virtually in the brass or iron, the oak in the acorn.”

2. (not-comparable)For practical purposes, though not technically; almost complete, very near.

   “The angry peasants were a virtual army as they attacked the castle.”

   “But it vvas plain, that the general reaſonings vvhich vvere employed againſt that povver, vvent directly to our vvhole legiſlative right; and one part of it could not be yielded to ſuch arguments, vvithout a virtual ſurrender of all the reſt.”

   “The Chelsea captain [John Terry] was a virtual spectator as he was treated to his side's biggest win for almost two years as Stamford Bridge serenaded him with chants of "there's only one England captain," some 48 hours after he announced his retirement from international football.”

3. (not-comparable)Operating using a computer and/or online rather than physically present.

   “a virtual assistant    a virtual personal trainer”

   “In recent months, hospitals around the country, looking for ways to free up beds for coronavirus patients, began expanding their virtual offerings, launching video doctors' visits and virtual therapy sessions, and rolling out programs to remotely monitor vulnerable patients, like those in nursing homes.”

4. (not-comparable)Simulated in a computer and/or online.

   “virtual machine    virtual memory    virtual private network”

   “The virtual world of his computer game allowed character interaction.”

5. (not-comparable)Of a class member: capable of being overridden with a different implementation in a subclass.
6. (not-comparable)Pertaining to a theoretical infinitesimal velocity in a mechanical system that does not violate the system's constraints; also, of other physical quantities: resulting from such a velocity.

   “virtual displacement    virtual work”

7. (not-comparable)Pertaining to a theoretical quality of something which would produce an observable effect if counteracting factors such as friction are disregarded; specifically, of a head of water: producing a certain pressure if friction, etc., is disregarded.
8. (not-comparable)Chiefly in virtual focus: of a focus or point: from which light or other radiation apparently emanates; also, of an image: produced by light that appears to diverge from a point beyond the reflecting or refracting surface.
9. (not-comparable, particle)Pertaining to particles in temporary existence due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
10. (not-comparable)Of a quantum state: having an intermediate, short-lived, and unobservable nature.
11. (not-comparable, obsolete)Having efficacy or power due to some natural qualities.

    “[H]is ſenſes flame / Flovv'd from his parts, vvith force ſo virtuall, / It fir'd vvith ſence things meere inſenſuall.”

    “Take an Apple, &c. and pricke it vvith a Pin full of Holes, not deepe, and ſmeare it a little vvith Sacke, or Cinnamon vvater, or Spirit of vvine, euery day for ten dayes, to ſee if the Virtuall Heat of the VVine, or Strong VVaters, vvill not Mature it.”

    “[H]is [God's] Omnipreſence fills / Land, Sea, and Aire, and every kinde that lives, / Fomented by his virtual power and warmd: […]”

    “RAIN is generally accounted to be a crude Vapour of the Earth, but more eſpecially of the Sea, dravvn up from thence by the attractive Povver of the Sun, or carry'd thithervvard by Pulſion, and vvafted by the VVinds into the Aerial Region; by vvhich Sublimation and Rarefaction, and the virtual Qualities of the Sun and Air, it is form'd into Clouds.”

12. (also, figuratively, not-comparable, obsolete, specifically)Having efficacy or power due to some natural qualities.
13. (not-comparable, obsolete)Having the power of acting without the agency of some material or measurable thing; possessing invisible efficacy.

    “VVater, being contiguous vvith Aire, Cooleth it, but Moiſteneth it not, except it Vapour. The Cauſe is, for that Heat, and Cold haue a Virtuall Tranſition, vvithout Communication of Subſtance; but Moiſture not: […]”

14. (not-comparable, obsolete)Producing, or able to produce, some result; effective, efficacious.

    “For Dr. [John] Dee, in his Mathematical Preface to Euclids Elements of Geometrie, hath vvorthily taken pains to make Architecture a Mathematical Science; and as a vertual Proof of his ovvn Learned Plea, quotes tvvo Authentique Authors, viz. Vitruvius and Leo Baptiſta [i.e., Leon Battista Alberti], […]”

15. (not-comparable, obsolete)Synonym of virtuous (“full of virtue; having excellent moral character”).

    “The moſt in ſoule deiected; the moſt baſe, / And moſt vnſeruiceable weede, vnles / You by your heauenly Influence change his vilenes / Into a vertuall habit fit for vſe.”

    “Her the grim conqueror's iron might / Avengeing clutched, distrusting rent; / […] / Not virtual France, the France benevolent, / The chivalrous, the many-stringed, sublime / At intervals, and oft in sweetest chime; […]”

noun

1. (uncountable)Preceded by the: that which is imitated or simulated rather than existing in fact or reality; (countable) an instance of this.
2. (uncountable)Preceded by the: that which is imitated or simulated rather than existing in fact or reality; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (countable)A virtual (adjective sense 3.3) member function of a class.