virtue

[ vur-choo ]

noun

1. moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.

   Antonyms: vice

2. conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.

   Synonyms: integrity, probity

3. chastity; virginity:

   to lose one's virtue.

4. a particular moral excellence. Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.
5. a good or admirable quality or property:

   the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.

6. effective force; power or potency:

   a charm with the virtue of removing warts.

7. virtues, an order of angels. Compare angel ( def 1 ).
8. manly excellence; valor.

virtue

/ ˈvɜːtjuː; -tʃuː /

noun

1. the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness
2. a particular moral excellence

   the virtue of tolerance

3. any of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) or theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity)
4. any admirable quality, feature, or trait
5. chastity, esp in women
6. archaic.
   an effective, active, or inherent power or force
7. by virtue of
   by virtue ofin virtue of on account of or by reason of
8. make a virtue of necessity
   make a virtue of necessity to acquiesce in doing something unpleasant with a show of grace because one must do it in any case

Derived Forms

• ˈvirtueless, adjective

Other Words From

• virtue·less adjective
• virtue·less·ness noun
• non·virtue noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of virtue¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; alteration (with i from Latin ) of Middle English vertu, from Anglo-French, Old French from Latin virtūt-, stem of virtūs “maleness, worth, virtue,” equivalent to vir “man” + -tūs, abstract noun suffix; virile

Word History and Origins

Origin of virtue¹

C13: vertu, from Old French, from Latin virtūs manliness, courage, from vir man

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. by / in virtue of, by reason of; because of:

   to act by virtue of one's legitimate authority.

2. make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.

More idioms and phrases containing virtue

see by virtue of ; make a virtue of necessity .

Synonym Study

See goodness.

Example Sentences

Mulan is the story of 1,500 years of shifting ideas about gender and virtue.

From Vox

They also found, by analyzing speeches from Senate floor proceedings coded for virtue and vice signals,6 that United States senators were higher in the Dark Triad than the general population—which makes sense, given how competitive politics can be.

From Nautilus

Now, declared covid vulnerable by virtue of age, I was not just alone but afraid.

From MIT Technology Review

I’ve spent a good bit of my career arguing for the virtues of solitude.

From MIT Technology Review

Interestingly enough, by virtue of this very unobtrusive nature of the Pilos helmet, it was also used by lighter troops, such as the archers employed by Athens.

From Realm of History

We see detoxing as a path to transcendence, a symbol of modern urban virtue and self-transformation through abstinence.

From The Daily Beast

Advocates claimed that it helped to preserve virtue and to affirm the application of Sharia law.

From The Daily Beast

For these self-righteous and thin-skinned folks, there are apparently limits to the liberal virtue of tolerance.

From The Daily Beast

By virtue of being readers we are also writers, I now believe, but that was not always the case.

From The Daily Beast

He calmly offered his vision of an ideology that merges libertarian values with social conservative virtue.

From The Daily Beast

When we speak against one capital vice, we ought to speak against its opposite; the middle betwixt both is the point for virtue.

From Project Gutenberg

And it would be hard indeed, if so remote a prince's notions of virtue and vice were to be offered as a standard for all mankind.

From Project Gutenberg

Why expect that extraordinary virtues should be in one person united, when one virtue makes a man extraordinary?

From Project Gutenberg

She may be as chaste as unsunned snow, she is certainly as cold: but for warm, inspiring virtue!

From Project Gutenberg

The smiling face of man was blotted out; gratitude, virtue, were annihilated; and life had no longer an object!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• advantage
• character
• ethic
• excellence
• faith
• generosity
• goodness
• ideal
• kindness
• love
• merit
• morality
• purity
• quality
• rectitude
• righteousness
• value