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virtue - 5 dictionary results

vir⋅tue

  [vur-choo]
Use virtue in a Sentence
–noun
1. moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
2. conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
3. chastity; virginity: to lose one's virtue.
4. a particular moral excellence. Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.
5. a good or admirable quality or property: the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.
6. effective force; power or potency: a charm with the virtue of removing warts.
7. virtues, an order of angels. Compare angel (def. 1).
8. manly excellence; valor.
—Idioms
9. by or in virtue of, by reason of; because of: to act by virtue of one's legitimate authority.
10. make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.
Origin:
1175–1225; alter. (with i < L) of ME vertu < AF, OF < L virtūt- (s. of virtūs) maleness, worth, virtue, equiv. to vir man (see virile ) + -tūt- abstract n. suffix

Related forms:
vir⋅tue⋅less, adjective
vir⋅tue⋅less⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. See goodness. 2. probity, integrity.

Antonyms:
1. vice.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To virtue
vir·tue   (vûr'chōō)   
n.  
    1. Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness.
    2. An example or kind of moral excellence: the virtue of patience.
  2. Chastity, especially in a woman.
  3. A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage: a plan with the virtue of being practical.
  4. Effective force or power: believed in the virtue of prayer.
  5. virtues Christianity The fifth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
  6. Obsolete Manly courage; valor.

[Middle English vertu, from Old French, from Latin virtūs, manliness, excellence, goodness, from vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Virtue

Vir"tue\ (?; 135), n. [OE. vertu, F. vertu, L. virtus strength, courage, excellence, virtue, fr. vir a man. See Virile, and cf. Virtu.]

1. Manly strength or courage; bravery; daring; spirit; valor. [Obs.] --Shak.

Built too strong For force or virtue ever to expugn. --Chapman.

2. Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency; efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine.

Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about. --Mark v. 30.

A man was driven to depend for his security against misunderstanding, upon the pure virtue of his syntax. --De Quincey.

The virtue of his midnight agony. --Keble.

3. Energy or influence operating without contact of the material or sensible substance.

She moves the body which she doth possess, Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch. --Sir. J. Davies.

4. Excellence; value; merit; meritoriousness; worth.

I made virtue of necessity. --Chaucer.

In the Greek poets, . . . the economy of poems is better observed than in Terence, who thought the sole grace and virtue of their fable the sticking in of sentences. --B. Jonson.

5. Specifically, moral excellence; integrity of character; purity of soul; performance of duty.

Virtue only makes our bliss below. --Pope.

If there's Power above us, And that there is all nature cries aloud Through all her works, he must delight in virtue. --Addison.

6. A particular moral excellence; as, the virtue of temperance, of charity, etc. "The very virtue of compassion." --Shak. "Remember all his virtues." --Addison.

7. Specifically: Chastity; purity; especially, the chastity of women; virginity.

H. I believe the girl has virtue. M. And if she has, I should be the last man in the world to attempt to corrupt it. --Goldsmith.

8. pl. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers. --Milton.

Cardinal virtues. See under Cardinal, a.

In, or By, virtue of, through the force of; by authority of. "He used to travel through Greece by virtue of this fable, which procured him reception in all the towns." --Addison. "This they shall attain, partly in virtue of the promise made by God, and partly in virtue of piety." --Atterbury.

Theological virtues, the three virtues, faith, hope, and charity. See --1 Cor. xiii. 13.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : virtue
Spanish: virtud,
German: die Tugend,
Japanese: 美徳
More Translations »

virtue 
c.1225, "moral life and conduct, moral excellence," vertu, from Anglo-Fr. and O.Fr. vertu, from L. virtutem (nom. virtus) "moral strength, manliness, valor, excellence, worth," from vir "man" (see virile). Phrase by virtue of (c.1230) preserves alternate M.E. sense of "efficacy." Wyclif Bible has virtue where K.J.V. uses power. The seven cardinal virtues (c.1320) were divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (hope, faith, charity). To make a virtue of a necessity (c.1374) translates L. facere de necessitate virtutem. [Jerome]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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virtue

see by virtue of; make a virtue of necessity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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