delta variant

noun

variants or less commonly Delta variant
: a highly transmissible genetic variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
Since the summer, independently owned restaurants and music venues in Colorado have instituted their own vaccine protocols in response to the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.Christine Ricciardi
Experts have said that Omicron appears to be causing less severe disease in people than the Delta variant did.Ed Browne

called also delta, delta virus

Examples of delta variant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Overall, the study found that about 5.3 percent of vaccinated people infected when the delta variant was circulating went on to get long COVID, compared with 3.5 percent of individuals infected later in the pandemic when the omicron variant was circulating. Lisa Rapaport, EverydayHealth.com, 23 July 2024 The original virus first detected in Wuhan, China, was replaced by the alpha variant, which was replaced by the delta variant, which was replaced by the omicron variant. Lisa Krieger, The Denver Post, 11 June 2024 That’s when the rapid spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 threatened to renew all the pandemic-era anxieties that had been quieted by widespread vaccine adoption. Melvin Backman, Quartz, 16 Feb. 2024 That overlapped with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the delta variant of COVID-19, which seemed to put an end to Biden's honeymoon period. Leah Askarinam, ABC News, 30 Nov. 2023 The boiling point While the farmers’ protest raged in the spring of 2021, a devastating delta variant of the coronavirus swept through India, ultimately killing more than 200,000 people. Joseph Menn, Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023 When Florida hospitals were overwhelmed by unvaccinated patients during the surge of the delta variant in summer 2021, DeSantis’s aides touted the state’s high vaccination rate in seniors and the steps the governor took to promote shots. Hannah Knowles and Fenit Nirappil, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Sep. 2023 Brownstein said some of the concern may be due to surges seen with variants in the past such as the delta variant in summer 2021, leading to a sounding of the alarm. Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 15 Aug. 2023 In August 2021, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins told commissioners they were required to wear masks during the Commissioners Court meeting after consulting local doctors about the surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant. Philip Jankowski, Dallas News, 30 June 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'delta variant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

2021, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of delta variant was in 2021

Dictionary Entries Near delta variant

Cite this Entry

“Delta variant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delta%20variant. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

delta variant

noun
variants also Delta variant
: a highly transmissible genetic variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
Citing the highly transmissible delta variant, President Biden ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for long-term care staff …Hospital Employee Health
Maine hospitals managed to stay staffed even as hospital beds and intensive care units filled with patients through the monthslong coronavirus surge driven by the delta variantPeter McGuire and Hannah LaClaire, Portland (Maine) Press Herald
… available data indicate that Omicron tends to cause less severe symptoms than the previously dominant Delta variantLuke Money et al., Los Angeles Times

called also delta, delta virus

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