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virtue
6 dictionary results for: virtue
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
vir·tue 
[vur-choo] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
[vur-choo] Pronunciation Key –noun
—Idioms
| 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. |
| 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
—Antonyms 1. vice.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| vir·tue
(vûr'chōō) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English vertu, from Old French, from Latin virtūs, manliness, excellence, goodness, from vir, man; see wī-ro- in Indo-European roots.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
virtue
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
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| virtue | |
noun | |
| 1. | the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong |
| 2. | any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit" [syn: merit] [ant: demerit] |
| 3. | morality with respect to sexual relations |
| 4. | a particular moral excellence |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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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