virtue
[vur-choo]
- moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
- conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
- chastity; virginity: to lose one's virtue.
- a particular moral excellence.Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.
- a good or admirable quality or property: the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.
- effective force; power or potency: a charm with the virtue of removing warts.
- virtues, an order of angels.Compare angel(def 1).
- manly excellence; valor.
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- by/in virtue of, by reason of; because of: to act by virtue of one's legitimate authority.
- make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.
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Origin of virtue
1175–1225; alteration (with i < Latin) of Middle English vertu < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin virtūt- (stem of virtūs) maleness, worth, virtue, equivalent to vir man (see virile) + -tūt- abstract noun suffix
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
1. vice.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
ethicfaithrighteousnessloveadvantagepuritycharactermeritgenerosityidealexcellencevaluegoodnesskindnessqualityrectitudemoralitytemperancefinenessincorruptibilityExamples from the Web for virtue
Contemporary Examples
By virtue of being readers we are also writers, I now believe, but that was not always the case.
But the military can mitigate the risks simply by virtue of its enormous logistical reach.
The Military’s Mission to Fight Ebola Might Be Dangerous But it Won’t Be Black Hawk DownNathan Bradley Bethea
September 19, 2014
Paragon of virtue Oliver North called for charges to be filed against Warner Brothers Music.
He saw no virtue in stubbornness, and he could never have taken pleasure in the refusal to act on something.
“Claiming that moderation in a time of such crisis is no virtue,” the martyr of American Russian studies declared.
Meet the Anti-Semites, Truthers, and Alaska Pol at D.C.’s Pro-Putin SoireeJames Kirchick
June 17, 2014
Historical Examples
Let young men hear the praise of virtue from the lips of beauty.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
I asked him what reward the Helots had for bravery or virtue.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Who, that has once trespassed with them, ever recovered his virtue?
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
She made a virtue of necessity; and the man was quite another man with her. '
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
It is their virtue in life to be lonely, and none but the lonely man in tragedy may be great.
Riders to the SeaJ. M. Synge
virtue
- the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness
- a particular moral excellencethe virtue of tolerance
- any of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) or theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity)
- any admirable quality, feature, or trait
- chastity, esp in women
- archaic an effective, active, or inherent power or force
- by virtue of or in virtue of on account of or by reason of
- make a virtue of necessity to acquiesce in doing something unpleasant with a show of grace because one must do it in any case
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Word Origin
C13: vertu, from Old French, from Latin virtūs manliness, courage, from vir man
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for virtue
n.
early 13c., "moral life and conduct, moral excellence," vertu, from Anglo-French and Old French vertu, from Latin virtutem (nominative virtus) "moral strength, manliness, valor, excellence, worth," from vir "man" (see virile).
For my part I honour with the name of virtue the habit of acting in a way troublesome to oneself and useful to others. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]
Phrase by virtue of (early 13c.) preserves alternative Middle English sense of "efficacy." Wyclif Bible has virtue where KJV uses power. The seven cardinal virtues (early 14c.) were divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (hope, faith, charity). To make a virtue of a necessity (late 14c.) translates Latin facere de necessitate virtutem [Jerome].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with virtue
virtue
see by virtue of; make a virtue of necessity.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.