virtuous
Americanadjective
-
conforming to moral and ethical principles; morally excellent; upright.
Lead a virtuous life.
-
a virtuous young person.
adjective
-
characterized by or possessing virtue or moral excellence; righteous; upright
-
(of women) chaste or virginal
Other Word Forms
- nonvirtuous adjective
- nonvirtuously adverb
- nonvirtuousness noun
- quasi-virtuous adjective
- quasi-virtuously adverb
- unvirtuous adjective
- unvirtuously adverb
- unvirtuousness noun
- virtuously adverb
- virtuousness noun
Etymology
Origin of virtuous
First recorded in 1300–50; alteration (with i from Latin ) of Middle English vertuous, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin virtuōsus, equivalent to Latin virtu(s) virtue + -ōsus -ous
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.
The hope is that by focusing on the number of customers—each one subsidized by shareholders—the companies can create a virtuous circle.
All this contributes to a virtuous circle of innovation and efficiency.
In one trajectory, Helen makes the virtuous decision to avoid eloping with the impatient Jed; she is rewarded for her sacrifice with two decades of spinsterhood—in this universe, a tragic outcome.
And this should encourage even more participation — creating a virtuous circle of innovation, demand and monetization known as the “flywheel effect.”
From MarketWatch
“This all drives kind of this virtuous cycle where, unless someone’s just creative or adding a bunch of new memory capacity, there’s going to be shortages or tightness.”
From MarketWatch
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.
