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The practice of expressing a particular opinion or performing a particular action in an attempt to make oneself look virtuous: commonly defensively in response to, or anticipation of, criticism; or aggressively, in assuming a moral posture in attacking an opponent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, uncountable
Examples
- People of poor personal character may mistake all virtue for virtue signalling because they cannot even imagine anyone truly having the relevant virtues but they are quite familiar with the concept of pretending to have traits for malevolent reasons.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: vice signalling
Broader terms: signaling, performing
present participle and gerund of virtue signal
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Initially used in academic works about religion to refer to ostentatious public displays of religiosity. Popularised by James Bartholomew in an April 2015 article in the British conservative magazine The Spectator.
Across languages
Translations
23 source translations are retained for this English entry.
-
Afrikaans:
deugpronkery
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Arabic:
رِيَاء
(riyāʔ)
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Chinese Mandarin:
道德表演
(dàodé biǎoyǎn)
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Danish:
godhedssignalering
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Finnish:
hyvesignalointi
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Finnish:
hyveliputus
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
French:
vertu ostentatoire
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
French:
bien-pensance ostentatoire
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
French:
vertu de façade
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
French:
tartufferie
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
French:
pharisaïsme
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
German:
die Flagge zeigen (moralische)
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
German:
Tugendschau
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
German:
den Heiligenschein aufsetzen
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Icelandic:
dygðaskreyting
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Polish:
pokazywanie pozornych wartości
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Polish:
sygnalizacja cnoty
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Portuguese:
sinalização de virtude
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Spanish:
postureo ético
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Spanish:
alardeo moral
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Swedish:
godhetssignalering
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Swedish:
dygdsignalering
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
-
Turkish:
duyar kasma
— expressing an opinion to make oneself look virtuous
