virtue — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The idea of all that is good or excellent (in every sense of those terms) in a human being, collectively instantiated by a varying number of human traits known as "the virtues", the enumeration of which vary by the many virtue systems which have developed within different cultures, religions, and historical periods.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

2. Accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Without virtue, there is no freedom.

   There are a set of religious, or rather moral, writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world.

   More examples (1)

   “Virtue is an inner light that can prevail in every soul.”

3. An attribute of a personality (a "personality trait") which predisposes a person to behaviors resulting in human goodness; an admirable quality.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   The commission of acts by a person which he or she believes to be wrong can cause a diminishment of one or more of the virtues which subsist in the person's personality; in this way such actions may be viewed as significant life events.

   Some men are modest, and seem to take pains to hide their virtues; and, from a natural distance and reserve in their tempers, scarce suffer their good qualities to be known […].

4. A particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

5. Specifically, each of several qualities held to be particularly important, including the four cardinal virtues, the three theological virtues, or the seven virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Better to be excluded from society than to deny the virtue of citizenship.

   The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only supports of society.

6. An inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out.

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   One virtue of the present coalition government's attack on access to education could be to reopen the questions raised so pertinently by Robinson in the 1960s […].

7. A creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and archangels, and below seraphim and cherubim.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers; / For in possession such, not only of right, / I call ye, and declare ye now […].

8. Specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

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   though she did not suppose Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement without the intention of marriage, she had no difficulty in believing that neither her virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey.

9. The inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

10. The inherent power or efficacy of something (now only in phrases).

    Usage

    • Countable
    • Uncountable

    Examples

    There was a virtue in the wave; His limbs, that, stiff with toil, Dragg’d heavy, from the copious draught receiv’d Lightness and supple strength.

    More examples (1)

    Here are the glasses, Meg. But I am afraid that the virtue has gone from them, and now they are only glass. Perhaps they were meant to help once and only on Camazotz.

    many Egyptians still worry that the Brotherhood, by virtue of discipline and experience, would hold an unfair advantage if elections were held too soon.

Noun

1. the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong

   Synonyms

   virtuousnessmoral excellence

   Broader terms

   goodgoodness

2. any admirable quality or attribute

   Synonyms

   merit

   Broader terms

   worth

   Examples

   work of great merit

3. morality with respect to sexual relations

   Synonyms

   chastitysexual morality

   Broader terms

   morality

4. a particular moral excellence

   Broader terms

   goodgoodness