virtuous
adjUK /ˈvɜːt͡ʃʊəs/ · US /ˈvɝt͡ʃuəs/
Etymology From Middle English vertuous, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertuous, vertous, ultimately from Late Latin virtuōsus, from Latin virtūs. By surface analysis, virtue + -ous. Doublet of virtuoso and piecewise doublet of virtùous.
1
Full of virtue; having excellent moral character.
- Successful communities need strong, selfless leaders and a virtuous people.
- Her virtuous, pale-blue, saucerlike eyes flooded with leviathan tears on unexpected occasions and made Yossarian mad.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171:
- Synonyms
28 terms
chaste, continent, correct, upstanding, delicate, decent, decorous, desertful, deserving, dutiful, duteous, good, honest, innocent, meritorious, modest, moral, noble, right, right-minded, righteous, straight, uprighteous, virtual, virtuous, well-intentioned, whole-souled, worthy- Antonyms
- bad, dishonest, immodest, immoral, incontinent, indecent, obscene, reprehensible, risque, shameless, unchaste, wicked
- Derived terms
- virtuous circle, virtuous cycle, virtuous spiral, virtuous couch, virtuousness, pseudovirtuous
- Hyponyms
- admirable, exemplary, excellent, matchless, peerless, sterling, creditable, commendable, laudable, praiseworthy, sanctimonious, angelic, devout, godlike, godly, heaven-born, pious, religious, reverent, reverential, saintly, saint-like, seraphic