Virtue

Quick meaning: Virtue is a noun meaning (uncountable) Accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct.

Meaning

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

More Meanings

1. A particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person.
2. An inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage.
3. (uncountable) Specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity.
4. (countable) An attribute of a personality (a "personality trait") which predisposes a person to behaviors resulting in human goodness; an admirable quality.
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.
6. (Christianity) A creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and archangels, and below seraphim and cherubim.
7. (conceptually): (uncountable) 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.

Example Sentences

Without virtue, there is no freedom.

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

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

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.

Word Forms

• virtues

Synonyms for virtue

Depending on context, synonyms include douth, thew, goodness, merit, virtuousness, chastity.

Antonyms for virtue

Common opposites include vice, foible, fault, demerit.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include virtuousness, merit, chastity, moral, morality, ethical.

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