virtuous

adjective

vir·​tu·​ous ˈvər-chə-wəs 

ˈvərch-wəs

1

a

: having or exhibiting virtue

b

: morally excellent : righteous

a virtuous decision

2

: chaste

3

: potent, efficacious

virtuously adverb

virtuousness noun

Synonyms of virtuous

• honorable
• ethical
• honest
• nice
• true
• good
• moral

Choose the Right Synonym for virtuous

moral, ethical, virtuous, righteous, noble mean conforming to a standard of what is right and good.

moral implies conformity to established sanctioned codes or accepted notions of right and wrong.

the basic moral values of a community

ethical may suggest the involvement of more difficult or subtle questions of rightness, fairness, or equity.

committed to the highest ethical principles

virtuous implies moral excellence in character.

not a religious person, but virtuous nevertheless

righteous stresses guiltlessness or blamelessness and often suggests the sanctimonious.

wished to be righteous before God and the world

noble implies moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean, or dubious in conduct and character.

had the noblest of reasons for seeking office

Examples of virtuous in a Sentence

In a kind of virtuous circle, the "second tier" schools got better as applications rose and they could become choosier in assembling a class—which in turn raised the quality of the whole experience on campus and made the school more attractive to both topflight professors and the next wave of applicants. —Nancy Gibbs et al., Time, 21 Aug. 2006

In its quest to create ice cream as voluptuous as butter and as virtuous as broccoli, the ice cream industry has probed the depths of the Arctic Ocean, studied the intimate structures of algae and foisted numerous failures on the American public. —Julia Moskin, New York Times, 26 July 2006

Children born into high-income households become part of a virtuous circle of success. Parents with university degrees tend to earn more, set higher educational goals for their children, and invest more time in the children's schooling than parents who have a high-school education or less. —Laura D'Andrea Tyson, BusinessWeek, 7 July 2003

We redefined virtue as health. And considering the probable state of our souls, this was not a bad move. By relocating the seat of virtue from the soul to the pecs, the abs and the coronary arteries, we may not have become the most virtuous people on earth, but we surely became the most desperate for grace. We spend $5 billion a year on our health-club memberships, $2 billion on vitamins, nearly $1 billion on home exercise equipment, and $6 billion on sneakers to wear out on our treadmills and StairMasters. —Barbara Ehrenreich, Utne Reader, May/June 1992

She felt that she had made a virtuous decision by donating the money to charity.

virtuous behavior is its own reward

Recent Examples on the Web

For more than a century, academics identified this statue as conveying a calm, neat, and virtuous masculinity. —Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 10 Mar. 2026

Why are producers and audiences alike so certain that Austen and her beloved proto-feminist heroine, Lizzy Bennet—lively, astute, sometimes cutting, not always virtuous—still have more to say beyond the page? —Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026

Achieving a virtuous cycle linking wages, consumption and prices is a key condition that would allow the central bank to continue normalizing policy with rate increases. —Erica Yokoyama, Bloomberg, 8 Mar. 2026

Their mothers’ absences create disparate narratives in the town, with Annie looked at as an extension of her mother’s abandonment and Vernice as a pitiable figure with a virtuous sheen. —Tembe Denton-Hurst, Vulture, 24 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see virtue

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing virtuous

• virtuous circle
• virtuous cycle

Kids Definition

virtuous

adjective

vir·​tu·​ous ˈvərch-(ə-)wəs 

: having or showing moral virtue

virtuously adverb

virtuousness noun