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virtues

[vur-choo]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.

conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.

chastity; virginity: to lose one's virtue.

a particular moral excellence. Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.

a good or admirable quality or property: the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.

EXPAND

effective force; power or potency: a charm with the virtue of removing warts.

virtues, an order of angels. Compare angel (def. 1).

manly excellence; valor.

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Idioms

by/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.

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Virtues is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Origin:
1175–1225; alteration (with i < Latin ) of Middle English vertu < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin virtūt- (stem of virtūs) maleness, worth, virtue, equivalent to vir man (see virile) + -tūt- abstract noun suffix

Related forms

vir·tue·less, adjective

vir·tue·less·ness, noun

non·vir·tue, noun

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

Antonyms
1. vice.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To virtues

Example Sentences

We are clinging to the supposed virtues of high school athletics with particular zeal.

And the shift to private funds threatens those virtues.

He is considered honest and frugal, rare virtues in a country with eye-popping graft.

EXPAND

We are clinging to the supposed virtues of high school athletics with particular zeal.

And the shift to private funds threatens those virtues.

He is considered honest and frugal, rare virtues in a country with eye-popping graft.

When her answers were accepted, her many virtues were extolled in a praise song.

The virtues of medical findings are found in the help of a particular individual.

During the intervening four centuries others have showered her with virtues.

Of course, you'd expect a local winemaker to extol the virtues of her region's product.

Frugality is not high upon the list of defining virtues of the real doll enthusiast archetype.

Students get a whole lifetime of instruction/modeling of virtues and ethical behavior.

High among its virtues is that it makes inertia all but impossible to sustain.

Most merely tout the virtues of a particular destination.

Science values data and statistics and champions the virtues of evidence and experimentation.

Compact growth and clean-looking, attractive foliage are their chief virtues.

It's knowing how to choose when two virtues conflict.

Good teachers know how to point out the virtues in the best work without making a fuss over it.

Certainly, some regional economists are touting the virtues of bonds.

It would be a better world if more people emulated those kinds of virtues.

Almost everyone agrees on the virtues of meritocracy in a society.

One of the virtues of pilotless planes is that you don't have to worry about them crashing and burning.

And that should be taken into account, both in judging the worth of ideas and actions and the virtues of the actors involved.

It extols the virtues of enduring harsh conditions with good grace.

The caliber of people does not depend on their income but their actions and virtues.

One monitor displays another female executive type extolling the virtues of the prison's reeducation system.

Through no virtues of their own, my students have chances that offer lives of worth and meaning.

Yet some investors and consumers may believe that her virtues outweigh her sins.

Ethical investment covers a broad variety of virtues.

The internet's openness fosters two of its great virtues.

Economists have long recognised the virtues of auctions.

Instead, it presented a caricature of these virtues.

He has tried to use government to reinforce traditional virtues such as marriage.

Ozersky extolled the virtues of using restaurant chefs rather than caterers.

Please,let's not get carried away with the virtues of the computing tin can.

Not all of the centenarians were paragons of all the virtues.

One of the great virtues of a repertory company, as the.

It is also trying to do the latter, with advertising campaigns extolling the virtues of careers in nursing and teaching.

Navy of the virtues of its robo-boat for other missions, too:.

He's gone weird, extolling the virtues of a sport in which nothing much happens.

Each year, selective colleges tout their application totals, along with the virtues of their.

Engineers used the supreme virtues of computers to directly and indirectly create the next improved version of computers.

It has been the custom in all civilized countries and ages to erect statues to commemorate the deeds and the virtues of the dead.

The group has tried to make the best of a poor hand by stressing the virtues of organic growth.

Bent on acquiring the loftlike virtues of light and air, a generation of renovators has.

The ethos is that everyone who steadfastly practices certain practical virtues will find a place at the table.

We look from the outside as if we're unfamiliar with the small-town virtues of kindness and charity.

Americans have long appreciated the virtues of pure research.

Topics include natural virtues and vices as treated by the apostle and in contemporary theology.

Germany's impressive flexibility is the consequence of old virtues combined with new ones.

Instead, the discussions were hijacked by a discussion of the virtues of parenthood versus childlessness.

Aristotelians emphasise virtues and intrinsic values that make for worthwhile lives.

If it does, it will be because of the flaws of the right as much as the virtues of the left.

But his critics often missed his virtues and overstated his faults.

In recent speeches to graduating students he has counselled against materialism and extolled the virtues of public service.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

virtues (ˈvɜːtjuːz, -tʃuːz)

—*pl n*
	(often capital) the fifth of the nine orders into which the angels are traditionally divided in medieval angelology

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

virtue

early 13c., "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 (early 13c.) preserves alternative M.E. sense

EXPAND

of "efficacy." Wyclif Bible has virtue where K.J.V. uses power. The seven cardinal virtues (early 14c.) were divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (hope, faith, charity). To make a virtue of a necessity (late 14c.) translates L. facere de necessitate virtutem. [Jerome]

COLLAPSE

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idealized image reflect resplendent Roman Socinian

Matching Quote

"Of all the vices, lewdness is the worst; of all the virtues, family duty is the first."

-unknown author

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