n.
Pronunciation: ' re-tr ō - ˌ v ī -r ə s
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin
Date: 1975
: any of a family ( Retroviridae ) of single-stranded RNA viruses (as HIV) that produce reverse transcriptase by means of which DNA is produced using their RNA as a template and incorporated into the genome of infected cells and that include numerous tumorigenic viruses
– ret · ro · vi · ral \ -r ə l \ adjective