virtue
Americannoun
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virtues
plural
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moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
- Antonyms:
- vice
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conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
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chastity; virginity.
to lose one's virtue.
-
a particular moral excellence.
-
a good or admirable quality or property.
the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.
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effective force; power or potency.
a charm with the virtue of removing warts.
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virtues, an order of angels.
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manly excellence; valor.
idioms
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make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.
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by / in virtue of, by reason of; because of.
to act by virtue of one's legitimate authority.
noun
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the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness
-
a particular moral excellence
the virtue of tolerance
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any of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) or theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity)
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any admirable quality, feature, or trait
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chastity, esp in women
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archaic an effective, active, or inherent power or force
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on account of or by reason of
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to acquiesce in doing something unpleasant with a show of grace because one must do it in any case
Synonym Usage
See goodness.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of virtue
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; see virile
Explanation
Virtue is the quality of being morally good. If you're writing a screenplay and you want it to be a real tearjerker, make sure your hero is full of virtue. The word virtue comes from the Latin root vir, for man. At first virtue meant manliness or valor, but over time it settled into the sense of moral excellence. Virtue can also mean excellence in general. One of your virtues might be your generous willingness to help out your friends. The phrase by virtue of means "as a result of" or "by authority of." You will achieve success by virtue of hard work (or by virtue of inside connections).
Vocabulary lists containing virtue
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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"The Monkey's Paw," Vocabulary from the short story
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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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.
See Examples For:
So Bennett, by virtue of experience in the system and his performance Saturday, appears to have the edge to back up Stafford on a team that is favored to win Super Bowl LXI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Mark Joseph Stern: This idea of republican virtue, lowercase r, civic virtue, the Framers were obsessed with it.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
The second lesson is the virtue of diversification.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Ms. Winger, a celebrated movie actor and three-time Oscar nominee, has always been refreshingly free of vanity; perhaps here she takes the virtue a little too far.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
I’m always teasing Margot about being a paragon of virtue these days, and she hates it.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
We were inculcated with the importance of charity, love toward all, good works and humility, and urged to carry those virtues into adulthood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Trump responded relatively civilly, calling Ossoff a “Pee-wee Herman look-alike” before going on a tear about the ballroom’s virtues.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Apple under Tim Cook’s leadership has illustrated the virtues of sticking to one’s knitting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 2, 2026
A Forrest Gump of a tale, “Theo of Golden” extols the virtues of close observation, deep conversation and offline connection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
I studied its precise drawings and stored in iny memory the virtues and uses of all plants.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
