as in advantage
a quality that gives something special worth
the cardinal virtue of wool is that it retains its insulating properties even when wet
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Recent Examples of cardinal virtue
Tolerance became the cardinal virtue of modern liberalism, but tolerance cannot sustain a civilization.
—
Carolyn McKinney, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
Practical wisdom, justice, and AI The cardinal virtues of practical wisdom and justice are the habits for deciding, fairly, what needs to be done.
—Andrew Abela, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025
Aquinas also noted that each of these four cardinal virtues had several smaller virtues associated with them.
—Andrew Abela, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024
Doubt is a cardinal virtue in the sciences, which advance through skeptics’ willingness to question the experts.
—Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2020
Breaching tennis’ cardinal virtues of self-sufficiency and autonomy, the coach begins by telling this emotional woman to calm down.
—Jon Wertheim, SI.com, 11 Apr. 2018
Dialogue is one of their cardinal virtues, and most seemed determined to give Trump a hearing.
—Time, 25 Jan. 2018
Carolyn McKinney, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
Practical wisdom, justice, and AI The cardinal virtues of practical wisdom and justice are the habits for deciding, fairly, what needs to be done.
—Andrew Abela, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025
Aquinas also noted that each of these four cardinal virtues had several smaller virtues associated with them.
—Andrew Abela, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024
Doubt is a cardinal virtue in the sciences, which advance through skeptics’ willingness to question the experts.
—Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2020
Breaching tennis’ cardinal virtues of self-sufficiency and autonomy, the coach begins by telling this emotional woman to calm down.
—Jon Wertheim, SI.com, 11 Apr. 2018
Dialogue is one of their cardinal virtues, and most seemed determined to give Trump a hearing.
—Time, 25 Jan. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cardinal virtue
Noun
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One major advantage of developing artificial intelligence in China lies in the availability of large, high-quality datasets, particularly coming from hospitals that are often willing to share medical information for research purposes.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Oct. 2025
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Who is looking strongest for these next three races/who has the advantage beyond just points standings?—
Jeff Gluck,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
When counseling clients, financial advisors often draw a distinction between investing and speculation.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Find the distinction in your relationships as Venus enters Libra.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The virtue of independence is the companion of freedom.—
John H Bolthouse,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Oct. 2025
-
But trends, especially on social media, that fallback on body-shaming stereotypes casting thinness as a virtue haven't disappeared.—
Stephanie Ganz,
Parents,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Packages with values of $800 or less, which were previously allowed to enter the United States duty-free, are now subject to a range of tariffs and fees.—
Kayla Steinberg,
NBC news,
10 Oct. 2025
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So Spectrum now wants to encourage its customers to take advantage of those subscriptions, which the company says provides more than $125 per month in value, by launching a new Spectrum app store in its mobile app and on its website, which is meant to streamline that process.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Rarely does a 29-page scholarly paper merit the attention of top-level executives, but every business leader should be familiar with a recent study from OpenAI.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Lou Tingle's vast merit badge collection from his days with Troop 228 illustrated just how much more Steiger had to learn about survival, agriculture, craftsmanship and life in general.—
Maggie Menderski,
Louisville Courier Journal,
9 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cardinal virtue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cardinal%20virtue. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
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