virtue

Definition

(uncountable) 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.

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.

Example Sentences

• "Without virtue, there is no freedom."
• "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."
• "“Virtue is an inner light that can prevail in every soul.”"

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