Definition of VIRTUOUSNESS

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 Neuroscience has shown that when the level of trust is high in social or organizational environments, a virtuous cycle of trust emerges. — Expert Panel®, Forbes, "14 Ways To Create An Engaging Automated Marketing Campaign," 1 Mar. 2021 Recognizing this indisputable fact can make dispensing with the concept seem like the most virtuous and equitable response. — Washington Post, "Maradona was great, and maybe the greatest. Can we make similar claims about artists?," 25 Dec. 2020 It is less frequently said that, in order for this to be true, that press must be both virtuous and useful. — Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, "Biden’s Media Campaign," 12 Nov. 2020 Men were supposed to react to these instances of public nudity with infatuation, recognizing that these bodies are beautiful, virtuous, and good. — Autumn Wright, Wired, "What Hades Can Teach Us About Ancient Greek Masculinity," 16 Jan. 2021 Primarily, to a devoted, virtuous, honorable, and most estimable father and Christian mother, who reared him in industry and integrity on the farm in the pure surroundings of a typical Maryland home. — Mary Ann Ashcraft, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, "Carroll Yesteryears: Glimpse at early life of sculptor William Henry Rinehart," 26 Dec. 2020 Women were institutionally and socially subordinate to men in civic life, while their bodies were often portrayed as the antithesis to virtuous masculinity. — Autumn Wright, Wired, "What Hades Can Teach Us About Ancient Greek Masculinity," 16 Jan. 2021 But Malcolm reserves most of his virtuous disapproval for Cooke, claiming that the singer has taken sacred church music and turned it into a vehicle for pandering to white people. — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, "One Night in Miami Blends Fact and Fiction to Bring Civil Rights-Era Luminaries to Life," 15 Jan. 2021 Honest, virtuous, and demanding, Marcus keeps the family together. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "Meet the Members of The Sparrow Academy from "The Umbrella Academy" Season 3," 11 Jan. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'virtuous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.