name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
virtue
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈvɜːt͡ʃuː/ yod-coalescence
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/ˈvɜːtjuː/ no yod-coalescence
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General-American: /ˈvɝt͡ʃu/
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General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: V ER1 CH UW0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Qualifier: conceptually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
- Without virtue, there is no freedom.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
An attribute of a personality (a "personality trait") which predisposes a person to behaviors resulting in human goodness; an admirable quality.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
- 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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
- Better to be excluded from society than to deny the virtue of citizenship.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
An inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and archangels, and below seraphim and cherubim.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: Christianity
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
Specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
The inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 11
The inherent power or efficacy of something (now only in phrases).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: virtuousness, moral excellence
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: good, goodness
noun
Meaning 13
a particular moral excellence
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: good, goodness
Narrower terms: cardinal virtue
noun
Meaning 14
morality with respect to sexual relations
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: chastity, sexual morality
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: morality
Narrower terms: honor, honour, purity, pureness
noun
Meaning 15
any admirable quality or attribute
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- work of great merit
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: merit
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: worth
History
Etymology
From Middle English vertu, virtue, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertu, virtu, from Latin virtus (“manliness, bravery, worth, moral excellence”), from vir (“man”). Doublet of vertu. See virile. In this sense, displaced Old English cræft, whence Modern English craft.
Across languages
Translations
226 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: deug — excellence in morals
- Albanian: virtyt — excellence in morals
- Albanian: dhunti — excellence in morals
- Albanian: dhurëti — excellence in morals
- Arabic: فَضِيلَة (faḍīla) — excellence in morals
- Armenian: առաքինություն (aṙakʻinutʻyun) — excellence in morals
- Azerbaijani: fəzilət — excellence in morals
- Belarusian: цно́та (cnóta) — excellence in morals
- Belarusian: дабрачы́ннасць (dabračýnnascʹ) — excellence in morals
- Belarusian: дабрачы́ннасьць (dabračýnnasʹcʹ) — excellence in morals
- Bengali: সদ্গুণ (śodgun) — excellence in morals
- Bengali: গুণ (gun) — excellence in morals
- Bulgarian: доброде́тел (dobrodétel) — excellence in morals
- Bulgarian: целомъ́дрие (celomǎ́drie) — excellence in morals
- Burmese: ပါရမီ (para.mi) — excellence in morals
- Burmese: အလိမ္မာ (a.limma) — excellence in morals
- Burmese: သီလ (sila.) — excellence in morals
- Catalan: virtut — excellence in morals
- Cebuano: birtud — excellence in morals
- Chinese Mandarin: 美德 (měidé) — excellence in morals
- Chinese Mandarin: 德 (dé) — excellence in morals
- Czech: ctnost — excellence in morals
- Danish: dyd — excellence in morals
- Dutch: deugdzaamheid — excellence in morals
- Dutch: deugd — excellence in morals
- Estonian: voorus — excellence in morals
- Finnish: hyveellisyys — excellence in morals
- Finnish: siveys — excellence in morals
- French: vertu — excellence in morals
- Friulian: virtût — excellence in morals
- Galician: virtude — excellence in morals
- Georgian: ღირსება (ɣirseba) — excellence in morals
- German: Tugend — excellence in morals
- Greek: αρετή (aretí) — excellence in morals
- Ancient Greek: ἀρετή (aretḗ) — excellence in morals
- Hebrew: סגולה — excellence in morals
- Hebrew: סְגֻלָּה (s'gulá) — excellence in morals
- Hindi: सदाचार (sadācār) — excellence in morals
- Hindi: गुण (guṇ) — excellence in morals
- Hindi: अच्छाई (acchāī) — excellence in morals
- Hindi: नेकी (nekī) — excellence in morals
- Hungarian: erény — excellence in morals
- Icelandic: dyggð — excellence in morals
- Ido: vertuo — excellence in morals
- Ilocano: birtud — excellence in morals
- Indonesian: kebajikan — excellence in morals
- Interlingua: virtute — excellence in morals
- Irish: suáilce — excellence in morals
- Italian: virtù — excellence in morals
- Japanese: 美徳 (bitoku) — excellence in morals
- Japanese: 徳 (toku) — excellence in morals
- Kazakh: ізгілік (ızgılık) — excellence in morals
- Khmer: គុណ (kun) — excellence in morals
- Khmer: គុណធម៌ (kunnaʼthɔə) — excellence in morals
- Khmer: បារមី (baarĕəʼməy) — excellence in morals
- Khmer: កុសល (kosɑl) — excellence in morals
- Korean: 미덕 (mideok) — excellence in morals
- Korean: 덕 (deok) — excellence in morals
- Northern Kurdish: fezîlet — excellence in morals
- Kyrgyz: изгилик (izgilik) — excellence in morals
- Kyrgyz: кайрымдуу (kayrımduu) — excellence in morals
- Lao: ຄຸນນະທໍາ (khun na tham) — excellence in morals
- Lao: ຄຸນ (khun) — excellence in morals
- Lao: ກຸສົນ (ku son) — excellence in morals
- Latin: virtūs — excellence in morals
- Latvian: tikums — excellence in morals
- Lithuanian: dorybė — excellence in morals
- Macedonian: доблест (doblest) — excellence in morals
- Macedonian: добродетел (dobrodetel) — excellence in morals
- Malay: fadzilat — excellence in morals
- Malay: kebajikan — excellence in morals
- Malay: kebaikan — excellence in morals
- Māori: ngākaupai — excellence in morals
- Middle English: honeste — excellence in morals
- Norwegian Bokmål: dyd — excellence in morals
- Norwegian Nynorsk: dygd — excellence in morals
- Old English: cræft — excellence in morals
- Old Norse: dygð — excellence in morals
- Pangasinan: birtud — excellence in morals
- Pashto: فضيلت (fazilat) — excellence in morals
- Persian: فضیلت (fazilat) — excellence in morals
- Persian: خوبی (xubi) — excellence in morals
- Persian: ستودگی (sotudegi) — excellence in morals
- Persian: هژیری (hožiri) — excellence in morals
- Persian: حسن (hosn) — excellence in morals
- Polish: cnota — excellence in morals
- Portuguese: virtude — excellence in morals
- Romanian: virtute — excellence in morals
- Russian: доброде́тель (dobrodételʹ) — excellence in morals
- Russian: целому́дрие (celomúdrije) — excellence in morals
- Serbo-Croatian: врлѝна — excellence in morals
- Serbo-Croatian: vrlìna — excellence in morals
- Sicilian: virtuti — excellence in morals
- Slovak: cnosť — excellence in morals
- Slovene: vrlina — excellence in morals
- Solon: buyaa — excellence in morals
- Spanish: virtud — excellence in morals
- Swedish: dygd — excellence in morals
- Tagalog: birtud — excellence in morals
- Tajik: фазилат (fazilat) — excellence in morals
- Tajik: некӯӣ (neküyi) — excellence in morals
- Tajik: некӯкор (nekükor) — excellence in morals
- Tajik: ҳусн (husn) — excellence in morals
- Tamil: விருடம் (viruṭam) — excellence in morals
- Tatar: изгелек (izgelek) — excellence in morals
- Telugu: సుగుణం (suguṇaṁ) — excellence in morals
- Thai: คุณ (kun) — excellence in morals
- Thai: บารมี (baa-rá-mii) — excellence in morals
- Thai: คุณธรรม (kun-ná-tam) — excellence in morals
- Thai: กุศล (gù-sǒn) — excellence in morals
- Tibetan: དགེ་བ (dge ba) — excellence in morals
- Turkish: erdem — excellence in morals
- Turkish: fazilet — excellence in morals
- Turkish: itminan — excellence in morals
- Turkmen: fazylet — excellence in morals
- Ukrainian: цнотли́вість (cnotlývistʹ) — excellence in morals
- Ukrainian: доброче́сність (dobročésnistʹ) — excellence in morals
- Urdu: فَضِیلَت (fazīlat) — excellence in morals
- Urdu: اَچّھائی (acchāī) — excellence in morals
- Urdu: نیکی (nekī) — excellence in morals
- Uyghur: پەزىلەت (pezilet) — excellence in morals
- Uzbek: fazilat — excellence in morals
- Venetan: vertù — excellence in morals
- Vietnamese: đức — excellence in morals
- Welsh: rhinwedd — excellence in morals
- Afrikaans: deug — a good model quality
- Arabic: فَضِيلَة (faḍīla) — a good model quality
- Belarusian: го́днасць (hódnascʹ) — a good model quality
- Belarusian: го́днасьць (hódnasʹcʹ) — a good model quality
- Bulgarian: досто́инство (dostóinstvo) — a good model quality
- Catalan: virtut — a good model quality
- Chinese Mandarin: 美德 (měidé) — a good model quality
- Danish: dyd — a good model quality
- Dutch: deugd — a good model quality
- Finnish: hyve — a good model quality
- French: vertu — a good model quality
- Georgian: ღირსება (ɣirseba) — a good model quality
- Georgian: სათნოება (satnoeba) — a good model quality
- German: Tugend — a good model quality
- Hindi: बल (bal) — a good model quality
- Indonesian: fadilat — a good model quality
- Interlingua: virtute — a good model quality
- Italian: virtù — a good model quality
- Japanese: 美徳 (bitoku) — a good model quality
- Korean: 미덕 (mideok) — a good model quality
- Latin: virtūs — a good model quality
- Norwegian Bokmål: dyd — a good model quality
- Old English: cræft — a good model quality
- Old Norse: dygð — a good model quality
- Polish: godność — a good model quality
- Portuguese: virtude — a good model quality
- Russian: досто́инство (dostóinstvo) — a good model quality
- Spanish: virtud — a good model quality
- Swedish: dygd — a good model quality
- Telugu: సుగుణం (suguṇaṁ) — a good model quality
- Tocharian B: kärtsauñe — a good model quality
- Turkish: fazilet — a good model quality
- Turkish: erdem — a good model quality
- Ukrainian: гі́дність (hídnistʹ) — a good model quality
- Welsh: rhinwedd — a good model quality
- Arabic: عِفَّة (ʕiffa) — chastity and faithfulness
- Arabic: طَهَارَة (ṭahāra) — chastity and faithfulness
- Bulgarian: до́блест (dóblest) — chastity and faithfulness
- Bulgarian: вя́рност (vjárnost) — chastity and faithfulness
- Bulgarian: целомъ́дрие (celomǎ́drie) — chastity and faithfulness
- Catalan: virtut — chastity and faithfulness
- Danish: dyd — chastity and faithfulness
- Dutch: deugdzaamheid — chastity and faithfulness
- Dutch: kuisheid — chastity and faithfulness
- Finnish: avu — chastity and faithfulness
- French: vertu — chastity and faithfulness
- Galician: virtude — chastity and faithfulness
- Georgian: სათნოება (satnoeba) — chastity and faithfulness
- Georgian: უმანკოება (umanḳoeba) — chastity and faithfulness
- Georgian: უბიწოება (ubic̣oeba) — chastity and faithfulness
- Georgian: პატიოსნება (ṗaṭiosneba) — chastity and faithfulness
- German: Keuschheit — chastity and faithfulness
- Interlingua: virtute — chastity and faithfulness
- Italian: virtù — chastity and faithfulness
- Japanese: 純潔 (junketsu) — chastity and faithfulness
- Korean: 순결 (sun'gyeol) — chastity and faithfulness
- Macedonian: доблест (doblest) — chastity and faithfulness
- Norwegian Bokmål: dyd — chastity and faithfulness
- Old Norse: dygð — chastity and faithfulness
- Portuguese: virtude — chastity and faithfulness
- Russian: доброде́тель (dobrodételʹ) — chastity and faithfulness
- Russian: целому́дрие (celomúdrije) — chastity and faithfulness
- Russian: ве́рность (vérnostʹ) — chastity and faithfulness
- Spanish: virtud — chastity and faithfulness
- Swedish: dygd — chastity and faithfulness
- Turkish: iffet — chastity and faithfulness
- Turkish: namus — chastity and faithfulness
- Turkish: sililik — chastity and faithfulness
- Turkish: arılık — chastity and faithfulness
- Turkish: paklık — chastity and faithfulness
- Ottoman Turkish: ناموس (namus) — chastity and faithfulness
- Bulgarian: добродетел (dobrodetel) — an exemplary quality
- Catalan: virtut — an exemplary quality
- Chinese Mandarin: 美德 (měidé) — an exemplary quality
- Danish: dyd — an exemplary quality
- Dutch: deugd — an exemplary quality
- Finnish: etu — an exemplary quality
- Galician: virtude — an exemplary quality
- Georgian: ხარისხი (xarisxi) — an exemplary quality
- Georgian: ეფექტურობა (epekṭuroba) — an exemplary quality
- German: Tugend — an exemplary quality
- Interlingua: virtute — an exemplary quality
- Italian: merito — an exemplary quality
- Japanese: 美徳 (bitoku) — an exemplary quality
- Korean: 미덕 (mideok) — an exemplary quality
- Norwegian Bokmål: dyd — an exemplary quality
- Portuguese: virtude — an exemplary quality
- Sanskrit: गुण (guṇa) — an exemplary quality
- Spanish: virtud — an exemplary quality
- Swedish: dygd — an exemplary quality
- Catalan: virtut — in angelology
- Finnish: valta — in angelology
- French: vertu — in angelology
- Hebrew: מַעֲלָה (ma'alá) — in angelology
- Hebrew: מַעֲלַת טֻכֹּות (ma'alát tukót) — in angelology
- Hebrew: מַעֲלַת סֻכֹּות (ma'alát sukót) — in angelology
- Interlingua: virtute — in angelology
- Italian: virtù — in angelology
- Japanese: 力天使 (rikitenshi) — in angelology
- Portuguese: virtude — in angelology
- Spanish: virtud — in angelology
Real reading context