rectitude
Americannoun
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rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue.
the rectitude of her motives.
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correctness.
rectitude of judgment.
noun
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moral or religious correctness
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correctness of judgment
Etymology
Origin of rectitude
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Middle French rectitude, “honesty,” from Late Latin rēctitūdin- (stem of rēctitūdō “straightness, upright posture, honesty, justice”), equivalent to Latin rēct(us) right + -tūdin- -tude
Explanation
Rectitude refers to behavior that is correct, upright and honorable. You have moral rectitude if you refuse to be involved with a plan that some kids in your class have to cheat on a test. This is a word that's easy to remember! First of all, rectitude sounds like rector, a member of the clergy, who is supposed to be a person with a highly moral ... 'tude, if you will. It also has the same prefix as rectangle, that most upright of geometric figures. If someone talks about fiscal rectitude, they are concerned with doing the right thing financially.
Vocabulary lists containing rectitude
The Declaration of Independence
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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The Things They Carried
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Strong’s Oedipus is a commanding figure, exuding virility and seeming to tower over everyone around him, a pillar of rectitude and confidence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
Los Angeles needed a man on a white horse, somebody to clean things up, or at least give the place a sheen of rectitude.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2023
Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, lauds two tenets that are central to the country’s identity: military might and moral rectitude.
From Seattle Times • May 7, 2023
His Beethoven had heft and rectitude but it came across as ponderous and imposing, somehow above it all, rather like the hall itself.
From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2022
For the past three years he had devoted himself to rectitude and—I instantly saw now as he stooped out the door of the plane—growing a stomach.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
