Word: virtue Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /ˈvɜːt͡ʃuː/, /ˈvɜːtjuː/, /ˈvɝt͡ʃu/ 1. 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. Labels: uncountable 2. Accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct. Labels: uncountable Example: Without virtue, there is no freedom. Example: There are a set of religious, or rather moral, writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world. 3. An attribute of a personality (a "personality trait") which predisposes a person to behaviors resulting in human goodness; an admirable quality. Labels: countable Example: 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. Example: Some men are modest, and seem to take pains to hide their virtues; and, from a natural distance and reserve in their tempers, scarce suffer their good qualities to be known […]. 4. A particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Better to be excluded from society than to deny the virtue of citizenship. Example: The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only supports of society. 6. An inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out. Example: One virtue of the present coalition government's attack on access to education could be to reopen the questions raised so pertinently by Robinson in the 1960s […]. 7. A creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and archangels, and below seraphim and cherubim. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers; / For in possession such, not only of right, / I call ye, and declare ye now […]. 8. Specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity. Labels: uncountable Example: though she did not suppose Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement without the intention of marriage, she had no difficulty in believing that neither her virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey. 9. The inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 10. The inherent power or efficacy of something (now only in phrases). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There was a virtue in the wave; His limbs, that, stiff with toil, Dragg’d heavy, from the copious draught receiv’d Lightness and supple strength. Example: Here are the glasses, Meg. But I am afraid that the virtue has gone from them, and now they are only glass. Perhaps they were meant to help once and only on Camazotz.