Adjacent Words

Virtue definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VIRTUE, n. vur'tu. [L. virtus, from vireo, or its root. See Worth.] The radical sense is strength, from straining, stretching, extending. This is the primary sense of L. vir, a man.]
1. Strength; that substance or quality of physical bodies, by which they act and produce effects on other bodies. In this literal and proper sense, we speak of the virtue or virtues of plants in medicine, and the virtues of drugs. In decoctions, the virtues of plants are extracted. By long standing in the open air, the virtues are lost.
2. Bravery valor. This was the predominant signification of virtus among the Romans.
Trust to thy single virtue.
[This sense is nearly or quite obsolete.]
3. Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law. In this sense, virtue may be, and in many instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties merely from motives of convenience, or from compulsion, or from regard to reputation, is virtue, as distinct from religion. The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue and religion. In this sense it is true,
That virtue only makes our bliss below.
Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to truth.
4. A particular moral excellence; as the virtue of temperance, of chastity, of charity.
Remember all his virtues.
5. Acting power; something efficacious.
Jesus, knowing that virtue had gone out of him, turned - Mark 3.
6. Secret agency; efficacy without visible or material action.
She moves the body which she doth possess,
Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch.
7. Excellence; or that which constitutes value and merit.
- Terence, who thought the sole grace and virtue of their fable, the sticking in of sentences.
8. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.
9. Efficacy; power.
He used to travel through Greece by virtue of this fable, which procured him reception in all the towns.
10. Legal efficacy or power; authority. A man administers the laws by virtue of a commission.
In virtue, in consequence; by the efficacy or authority.
This they shall attain, partly in virtue of the promise of God, and partly in virtue of piety.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong [syn: virtue, virtuousness, moral excellence]
2: any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit" [syn: merit, virtue] [ant: demerit, fault]
3: morality with respect to sexual relations [syn: virtue, chastity, sexual morality]
4: a particular moral excellence

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English vertu, virtu, from Anglo-French, from Latin virtut-, virtus strength, manliness, virtue, from vir man — more at virile Date: 13th century 1. a. conformity to a standard of right ; morality b. a particular moral excellence 2. plural an order of angels — see celestial hierarchy 3. a beneficial quality or power of a thing 4. manly strength or courage ; valor 5. a commendable quality or trait ; merit 6. a capacity to act ; potency 7. chastity especially in a woman • virtueless adjective

Britannica Concise

Practical dispositions in conformity with standards of excellence or with principles of practical reason. The seven cardinal virtues of the Christian tradition include the four "natural," or cardinal, virtues, those inculcated in the old pagan world that spring from the common endowment of humanity, and the three "theological" virtues, those specifically prescribed in Christianity and arising as special gifts from God. The natural virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice; this enumeration, said to go back to Socrates, is found in Plato and Aristotle. To these St. Paul added the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love--virtues which, in Christian teaching, do not originate naturally in humanity but are instead imparted by God through Christ and then practiced by the believer. See also virtue ethics.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 moral excellence; uprightness, goodness. 2 a particular form of this (patience is a virtue). 3 chastity, esp. of a woman. 4 a good quality (has the virtue of being adjustable). 5 efficacy; inherent power (no virtue in such drugs). 6 an angelic being of the seventh order of the celestial hierarchy (see ORDER n. 19). Phrases and idioms: by (or in) virtue of on the strength or ground of (got the job by virtue of his experience). make a virtue of necessity derive some credit or benefit from an unwelcome obligation. Derivatives: virtueless adj. Etymology: ME f. OF vertu f. L virtus -tutis f. vir man

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(virtues) 1. Virtue is thinking and doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. She could have established her own innocence and virtue easily enough. = goodness ? vice N-UNCOUNT 2. A virtue is a good quality or way of behaving. His virtue is patience... Humility is considered a virtue. N-COUNT 3. The virtue of something is an advantage or benefit that it has, especially in comparison with something else. There was no virtue in returning to Calvi the way I had come... N-COUNT 4. You use by virtue of to explain why something happens or is true. (FORMAL) The article stuck in my mind by virtue of one detail... PREP-PHRASE 5. If you make a virtue of something, you pretend that you did it because you chose to, although in fact you did it because you had to. The movie makes a virtue out of its economy. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

vur'-tu: This word has two quite distinct meanings in the King James Version: (1) It was formerly often used in the now obsolete sense of "manly power," "valor," "efficacy" (Latin, virtus, "manly strength" or "excellence," from vir, "man"):

"Trust in thy single virtue; for thy soldiers

All levied in thy name, have in thy name

Took their discharge."

--Shakespeare, King Lear, V, iii, 103 ff.

It was also used in the sense of a mighty work, a miracle. Thus Wycliffe translates Mt 11:20: "Thanne Jhesus bigan to saye repreef to cities in whiche ful many vertues of him weren don." So in the King James Version, Mr 5:30; Lu 6:19; 8:46, in the sense of "power," "miraculous energy or influence" (dunamis, "inherent power, residing in the nature of a thing"; contrast exousia, "power arising from external opportunity or liberty of action"). In these passages it is translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "power" (as elsewhere in the King James Version; compare Ac 3:12, etc.). (2) In its ordinary modern meaning of "moral goodness" it occurs in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) The Wisdom of Solomon 4:1; 5:13; 8:7; Php 4:8; 2Pe 1:3,5. In these passages it stands for arete, the usual classical term for "moral excellence" (originally "fitness" of any sort), used in Septuagint to translate words meaning "glory," "praiseworthiness," as in Hab 3:3; Isa 42:12; 63:7 (of God); Zec 6:13 (of the Messiah). The Septuagint sense may color the meaning of the word as applied to God in 2Pe 1:3 the Revised Version (British and American); as also in its plural use (of God) in 1Pe 2:9 (the King James Version "praises," the Revised Version (British and American) "excellencies").

The adjective "virtuous" occurs in the King James Version, the English Revised Version Ru 3:11; Pr 12:4; 31:10 (the American Standard Revised Version "worthy"), and the adverb "virtuously" in Pr 31:29 (the American Standard Revised Version "worthily"), in each case for chayil, "strength," "force" (whether of body or of mind), then in a moral sense of "worth," "virtue."

D. Miall Edwards

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Force, efficacy, power, strength, potency, energy, inherent power. 2. Natural excellence, worth, merit, value, desert. 3. Goodness (that comes from self-discipline), uprightness, probity, integrity, rectitude, morality, worth, moral excellence. 4. Excellence, good quality. 5. Virginity, purity, female chastity. 6. Efficacy, force, power.

Foolish Dictionary

A quality oftentimes associated with intelligence, but rarely with beauty.

Moby Thesaurus

Dutch courage, advantageousness, affection, agreeableness, amperage, arete, armipotence, asset, assured probity, attribute, auspiciousness, authority, because of, beef, beneficialness, benevolence, benignity, black power, blamelessness, blotlessness, boldness, braveness, bravery, brute force, by dint of, by reason of, by virtue of, caliber, character, characteristic, charge, charisma, chasteness, chastity, chivalrousness, chivalry, class, cleanliness, cleanness, clout, cogence, cogency, compulsion, conspicuous gallantry, courage, courageousness, credit, decency, desert, dint, doughtiness, drive, duress, effect, effectiveness, effectuality, efficacy, energy, erectness, estimableness, ethicality, ethicalness, excellence, excellency, expedience, fairness, favorableness, fealty, feature, fidelity, fineness, first-rateness, flower power, force, force majeure, forcefulness, full blast, full force, gallantness, gallantry, gallantry under fire, good character, goodliness, goodness, grace, greatheartedness, healthiness, helpfulness, heroicalness, heroism, high ideals, high principles, high-mindedness, honesty, honor, honorableness, immaculacy, immaculateness, influence, innocence, integrity, intrepidity, intrepidness, irreproachability, irreproachableness, justice, justness, kindness, knightliness, lionheartedness, loyalty, main force, main strength, mana, manfulness, manhood, manliness, mark, martial spirit, merit, might, might and main, mightiness, military spirit, moral excellence, moral strength, morale, morality, morals, moxie, muscle power, niceness, nobility, on account of, owing to, perfection, piety, pizzazz, pleasantness, poop, pot-valor, potence, potency, potentiality, power, power pack, power structure, power struggle, powerfulness, prepotency, principles, probity, productiveness, productivity, profitableness, property, prowess, puissance, pull, punch, pureness, purity, push, quality, rectitude, reputability, respectability, rewardingness, righteousness, rightness, savor, sexual innocence, sinew, skillfulness, snowiness, soldierly quality, soundness, spotlessness, stainlessness, stalwartness, stature, steam, stoutheartedness, stoutness, strength, strong arm, superiority, superpower, taintlessness, thanks to, trait, unblemishedness, unblottedness, uncorruptness, undefiledness, unimpeachability, unimpeachableness, unsoiledness, unspottedness, unstainedness, unsulliedness, untaintedness, uprightness, upstandingness, usefulness, valiance, valiancy, validity, valor, valorousness, value, vehemence, vigor, vim, virginity, virility, virtuousness, virulence, vitality, wattage, weight, whiteness, wholeness, worth, worthiness