text: is a virus a living thing? i know this question has no definate answer, but lets see what you have to say, and what your evidence to back it up is. there is no real answer to your question, it's really controversial. the thing is, the basic unit of life is considered to be the cell, that being, every living thing is made up of cells. but viruses aren't! still, they are capable of infecting a host, they possess dna (or rna) and they can introduce that nucleic acid in their hosts, making them replicate it for them and generating more viruses!   so it's up to you to consider all of this and decide what you think is the best answer, yes or no...